


Relic Interference

by Thuriel



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends: The Old Republic, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-28
Updated: 2017-01-12
Packaged: 2018-09-13 00:34:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 18
Words: 49,877
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9097726
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thuriel/pseuds/Thuriel
Summary: When ancient enemies become unlikely allies, the future of the galaxy will never be the same. Prequel setting plus SWTOR plus game/original characters, and just a few edits to history.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> This story is understandable without any knowledge of the characters and events of Star Wars: The Old Republic. However, be advised that it does contain major spoilers for the Sith Warrior and Jedi Consular class stories, and the Shadow of Revan and Knights of the Fallen Empire expansion stories. That said, it was written before the release of Knights of the Eternal Throne, so there's no worry there.
> 
> This story is complete.

****

**Relic Interference**

_**Prologue** _

_21 years after the Treaty of Coruscant (2,632 years before the Ruusan Reformation; 3,596 years before the Great ReSynchronization; 3,632 years before the Battle of Yavin)_

_Odessen - Secret Headquarters of the Alliance to Oppose the Eternal Empire of Zakuul_

In the large, underground War Room of the Alliance, halfway up the stairs from the tunnels, Jedi Master Saery Dusklight - Commander of said Alliance - diverted her path at the beckons of her closest advisor. Lana Beniko was a Sith, but certainly the calmest and most rational Saery had ever met, and there were times that she forgot that the blonde-haired woman drew her strength from the Dark Side of the Force.

"I have something that might interest you," Lana said, looking down at her datapad even as she turned to face the Commander. "But you also may not like it much."

"An intriguing start to a conversation," Saery said. She'd been on her way to the cantina to relax after a series of tiresome meetings with her division chiefs, but with a lede like that, relaxation could wait. "What is it?"

"After your duel with Arcann and Senya's… departure…" Lana said delicately, "I thought it might be useful to focus on searching for additional allies who would be strong in that particular sense. That is, allies who would not be hampered by the Knights of Zakuul, who could at the very least stand against Vaylin for a time."

"Powerful Jedi, you mean," Saery said, tamping down on the flash of anger that came from being reminded of Senya's abandonment of the Alliance. "I agree, we need as many of those as we can get. I assume you found one, then?"

"I found a powerful Sith," Lana corrected. "You've met her before. What do you recall of the woman known as the Emperor's Wrath?"

Saery crossed her arms and frowned in recollection. "Young. Human. She was on Yavin, and helped in the fight against Revan. I don't believe I heard any news of her after that." She looked at Lana. "Now that I think of it, why would the _Emperor's Wrath_ help us against Valkorion's children?"

"You may as well ask why Darth Marr attempted to kill Valkorion himself," Lana replied evenly. "Do not forget, we Sith have no love for our former Emperor."

"Yes, but she's the Emperor's Wrath," Saery insisted. "Doesn't her loyalty flow directly to him? I believe that's how it was explained to me on Yavin, anyway."

"On Yavin, where the goal of all assembled was to _prevent_ the Emperor's resurrection?" Lana shook her head lightly. "It may interest you know that in the aftermath of those events, Darth Marr decreed that she should be known instead as the _Empire's_ Wrath. Given that, and everything else I know about her, she's as likely to join with Vaylin as I am."

"All right." Saery held up her hands in conciliatory surrender. "I suppose the Wrath would be a powerful ally - and weapon. So, where is she?"

"An excellent question," Lana said, and tapped on her datapad. The holo display in the middle of the War Room shifted to a star map showing a slice of the galaxy Saery didn't recognize off-hand. "As you recall, the Wrath was present on Yavin, but by the time Vitiate had established a hold on Ziost, she had disappeared. For a long time I simply assumed she was dead."

"Then we got a whole dump of _fascinating_ intelligence." It was Theron Shan's voice, as he approached from the far side of the War Room. Theron, an agent of the Republic's Strategic Information Service - or former agent, technically - was Saery's _other_ top advisor. Despite coming from opposing sides of the Galactic War, Lana and Theron made for an imposing team against a common enemy, and Saery trusted them both implicitly.

And yet, not enough to admit the source of the intelligence Theron mentioned, even though she knew immediately who it must have been from. There was just no way to explain that Satele Shan, Grand Master of the Jedi Order and Theron's own mother, was traveling the galaxy beside the lingering Force ghost of Darth Marr, the now-dead commander of the Sith Empire's entire military. There was no way to explain that the pair had been on Odessen not too long ago, and had likely provided the intelligence Theron mentioned as a parting gift when they left the planet.

Saery's hand fell to her waist, and gently brushed the hilt of her new double-bladed lightsaber, which she had constructed under their supervision and instruction.

"It took some time to analyze the information," Lana said, picking the explanation back up after Theron's interruption. "Especially with all the… distractions. But I am reasonably confident that I know where the Wrath has been for the past several years, since Yavin."

"If you're about to tell me she's on Zakuul, I swear I will scream," Saery warned.

Lana paused. "No, but that has been something of a pattern, hasn't it?" She tapped her datapad again, and one dot in the star map began to pulse in red. "She is here - the Aloraga system in the Outer Rim."

"And she's been there since Yavin," Saery said, watching for Lana's nod in confirmation. "The Emperor's - Empire's - Wrath, potentially their single strongest warrior… hidden away in the Outer Rim for six years." She turned her head, as if explanations would be visible in the holo from a different angle. "What has she been _doing_?"

"Apparently," Lana said, "she's been waiting."

"The intelligence we so helpfully received states that she will return 'when the time is right,'" Theron explained. "I don't know what contingencies Marr was planning for when he sent her away, but if you ask me, it's long past time for her to rejoin the fight."

"I agree," Saery said shortly. She looked at her two advisors. "Put together everything you have on this Wrath, and I'll read it before I head to Aloraga. For now, I think I need a nap."

* * *

"Vette."

The blue Twi'lek looked up in surprise from the pazaak table. "Oh, hey, Commander. What's up?"

"I'd like to talk to you for a moment, if you don't mind."

"Yeah, just let me - I'm about to beat Gault." Vette turned back to the table and considered her cards.

"Keep dreaming, sweetheart," Gault said. The Devaronian con-man was leaning back in his chair, watching Vette with an expression of pure confidence, or perhaps it was a complete bluff - with Gault, it was always hard to tell.

Soon, Vette played her card, and without a second's hesitation Gault followed up with his. The table beeped in recognition of a win, and Gault grinned cheekily as he scooped up his winnings.

"What? That's not fair!" Vette exclaimed. "If you had a Double, why didn't you play it when-"

Saery cleared her throat.

"-Ah, right, sorry. Next time, Red Man, you'd better believe it." Making a vaguely threatening gesture at the laughing Devaronian, Vette fell in step with Saery as they moved to a quieter corner of the cantina. "What can I do for you, Commander?"

"I have a few questions about your past, if you don't mind." Saery gestured for Vette to sit, then took the chair opposite.

"Like, what, my time with Nok Drayen? If you're after his infamous treasure, then you're too late. It was found years ago." Curiously, Vette looked almost happy about this, but Saery put it out of mind.

"Not quite that far back," she said. "What can you tell me about the Emperor's Wrath?"

At this, Vette's face grew almost wistful. "I haven't seen her in years," she admitted. "Since before the whole business with Zakuul, even."

"Did she tell you where she was going?" Saery leaned forward slightly. She'd been rather surprised to learn that she had a former associate of her target here within her own base, and was hoping the Twi'lek could shed some light on some of the rather large gaps in Lana's report.

Vette shook her head slightly. "She said she had something she had to do alone. Said it might take a while - she released us from her service, told us we didn't have to wait around. I wanted to go with her, but she refused."

"I see," Saery said. She wasn't disappointed - she already knew where the Sith was, after all. "Can you tell me about her as a person?"

"Oh, uh…" Vette's lekku twitched a bit as she thought. "I guess I'd say… if I had to serve a Sith, Shyre is the Sith I would choose. I actually liked her, you know?"

"Shyre?" Saery repeated.

"Darth Shyre to you, I suppose," Vette said casually.

Saery then processed the rest of Vette's statement. "Was she not… Dark?"

"Oh, no, she was very Dark!" Vette exclaimed. "She was the Emperor's Wrath! If you crossed her, or if the Emperor pointed her at you, your lifespan could be measured in _seconds_." She snapped her fingers to emphasize. "But she also protected her crew, and she was never cruel for the sake of cruelty. She was Sith, but she wasn't evil."

"That's as good a character reference as I could hope, I expect," Saery said. "If she were here now, do you think she would join the Alliance?"

Vette drummed her fingers on the table as she considered. "On Belsavis," she said, "Shyre had to work with a Jedi to track down a prisoner she'd been ordered to kill. When the fight was over, Shyre and the Jedi just stood there, eyeing each other. And then the Jedi said that they could fight to the death, _or,_ they could stretch their truce long enough to allow each other to leave." Vette shrugged. "Most Sith would have just killed him. But Shyre agreed he had been useful, and they went their separate ways."

"Meaning she can be reasoned with," Saery said.

"Meaning she respected strength and common purpose," Vette said. "If she agreed to work with someone, they didn't have to worry about her stabbing them in the back - unless they tried to stab hers first."

"Thank you, Vette," Saery said, standing from the table. "You've been a great help." That more or less clinched it. If Lana's analysis hadn't been convincing enough, she was sure now that the former Emperor's Wrath - Shyre - would only be an asset to the Alliance.

Now all she had to do was go to Aloraga and hope the Wrath was still alive.

* * *

_Aloraga_

Saery mentally reviewed Lana's report as she piloted her shuttle's final approach to the only habitable planet in the Aloraga system. The Sith who would eventually become the Emperor's Wrath - whose name, according to Vette, was Shyre - got her start at the Sith academy on Korriban. She was noticed by and apprenticed to one Darth Baras, one of the leading negotiators of the Treaty of Coruscant that ended - or, more accurately, paused - the war. Under his command, Shyre proceeded to 'forcibly end' the animosity between Baras and a Jedi Master named Nomen Karr, even turning Karr's Padawan to the Dark Side in the process.

For this victory, Shyre was promoted out of apprenticeship and given the title of Sith Lord, though she was not yet even twenty standard years old. It was apparent to all who were watching that the young Sith was a force to be reckoned with, and would only grow more powerful in time.

After a period of being pointed at various Republic military targets, Shyre suddenly dropped off the grid and was assumed dead until she dramatically re-emerged on Corellia, claiming the moniker of Emperor's Wrath and standing firm against her former master's bid for power. In the end, Shyre killed Baras herself, and the Dark Council recognized her legitimacy and granted her the rank of Darth.

As she then operated with the full authority of and autonomy from the Dark Council, there were few recorded details of her travels over the next few years. Still, one way or another, she was part of Darth Marr's task force on Yavin, and was one of the few in the group who stood toe-to-toe with Revan himself and defeated him for good.

By all accounts, she was one of the strongest fighters the Sith had, with rumors that she had never lost a fight - considering what tended to happen to Sith who lost fights, Saery was fully willing to believe this. It was an open question, however, what the years spent in isolation had done to Shyre's combat prowess. In the worst case, the Sith had completely forgotten how to wield a lightsaber, and would need time to train back up to standard.

Well, no, that wasn't the worst case. The worst case was that Shyre had gone mad from isolation and would attack anyone who tried to talk to her. That was why Saery was flying in alone. She was the only one who stood a chance of defending herself against someone as powerful as the Wrath.

She touched the shuttle down, then turned it off and locked the console. She didn't want the planet's only resident stealing her only way home. Lana would come for her eventually if she took too long to get back to Odessen, but it would be embarrassing as anything to need that kind of rescue.

She knew she was in the right area because the data that identified Aloraga also specified a particular cave. She was on a small plateau, about half a kilometer of rocky mountain terrain away. If Shyre was near the front of the cave and paying attention, Saery had already been noticed.

However, the walk to the cave passed easily and quietly. It was obvious in the Force; the dull sensation of Dark Side energy was leaking out to the mountainside, beckoning her forward with morbid fascination and anticipation. At the mouth of the cave, she tried to peer in, but the interior was completely dark, and even her hand-lamp seemed dimmer than it should.

"Hello?" Saery called in, feeling an odd compulsion to be polite, or whatever passed for polite in this circumstance. "Darth Shyre?"

Her voice had no echo at all. Unhooking her lightsaber from her belt, she kept the hilt in her right hand and the hand-lamp in her left as she cautiously crept into the dark cave. The cave extended back and down in a straight decline for longer than she expected, before curving suddenly to the right and flaring out into a grand chamber.

Something seemed oddly stale about the air in the chamber, or maybe that was just how things were in caves. Saery had little experience being this far underground. She slowly worked her way around the edge of the chamber, keeping an eye out for anything that might indicate the presence of another soul. What if Shyre had already left Aloraga years ago? What if she had never come, and the whole thing was a ruse? But no - there was certainly _something_ of the Dark Side deeper in the cave, and if it wasn't the presence of the Empire's Wrath, then it was still something worth investigating.

All she found was a new passageway, through little more than a crack in the wall, at the rear of the chamber. Taking a deep breath, she squeezed her way through, and found herself in a room so oppressively dark that she feared, for just a heartbeat, that she had gone blind. After that first spark of panic, however, she realized that her hand-lamp had merely gone out. Troublesome, but hardly catastrophic.

She closed her eyes and trusted in the Force, then continued forward. The source of the local Dark Side energy was just a few meters forward, she could sense, but she couldn't quite determine if it was the person she sought.

The air was like molasses here; every step took more effort than the last. She found herself short of breath, as if she'd run halfway across the planet without a rest. Something was fogging her mind - she couldn't tell how long she'd been in the cave - a minute? A day? The Dark Side source was drawing closer, but slowly, so slowly, like two landmasses drifting together to cause cataclysmic groundquakes.

She teetered on the brink of something, but she couldn't tell what. She couldn't remember her life before the cave. Had she even existed before the cave? Was this inexorable march towards the darkness all she had ever known, all she would ever know?

Then her outstretched fingers touched a shoulder, and everything stopped.


	2. Chapter 1

_**Chapter 1** _

_19 years before the Battle of Yavin (16 years after the Great ReSynchronization; 981 years after the Ruusan Reformation; 3,634 years after the Treaty of Coruscant)_

_Aloraga_

It was like a wet, heavy blanket had been pulled off of her in an instant. Shyre drew in a deep, gasping breath, and then another. She opened her eyes, though nothing changed, since she was in perfect darkness anyway. She tried to remember where she was.

Then she heard the rustle of clothing and realized she was not alone.

She rolled backwards, away from the other presence, then remained in a crouch as she ignited her lightsaber. Its distinctive glow - orange fading to black at its core - illuminated little more than a shocked green face staring at her. But, that was enough.

"Wait," the face said. "You are Darth Shyre, correct? The Empire's Wrath?" She could see a bit better now, and she thought the face probably belonged to a Mirialan woman.

"I was," Shyre admitted, silently marveling that her voice still sounded strong after what she'd just been through. "It's possible the title has been… reallocated in my absence."

The Mirialan just looked at her with a small frown. "Not likely," she said. Then she seemed to collect herself, and bowed lightly, mindful of the lightsaber blade not too far from her head. "I am Saery Dusklight, a Jedi. We worked together on Yavin, if you remember."

Shyre stared at Saery's face in the dim, orange-cast light, particularly at the pattern of tattoos under each of her eyes, then said, "You're the one with the pretentious title nobody understands."

"I- Yes," Saery said.

"What was it, again?" Shyre needled. "Par'simmon? Bracken'thorp?"

"Barsen'thor, thank you," Saery said. "You need not trouble yourself remembering it. Nobody has called me that in a very long time."

"Of course, Mirthen'cor," Shyre said, then shrugged internally when the Mirialan failed to react. "More importantly, why are you here?"

"I was looking for you." The Jedi shifted, gesturing back into the darkness. "Do you perhaps want to take this conversation outside?"

Shyre ran down a mental catalogue of her mission, then nodded. There was no need to remain in the cave any longer. "Might as well." She followed the Jedi through the crack in the wall, and across the larger cavern, all the while marveling at how trusting this Saery Dusklight really was. With the slightest effort, Shyre could have swung forward with her lightsaber and rid the galaxy of one more Jedi.

But, since the green woman had come all this way, it would be a shame to kill her before Shyre knew what she even wanted.

Partway up the incline to the surface, the mountain shook with a small tremor. Both women froze, reaching out with their senses, until a second tremor rocked the tunnel. These were heavy impacts, not anything natural, which meant a lot of things were very wrong. They broke into a run until they reached the mouth of the cave - or rather, the cave-in that blocked their egress.

The Jedi began lifting rocks out of the way with the Force, but Shyre was more concerned with what awaited them outside. Still focused outward, she reported, "There is a battle taking place above us. However, I can only sense one side." And even that one side felt strange - like there was something abnormal about those soldiers.

Saery paused and closed her eyes to sense the battle for herself. "Droids," she said. "Skytroopers? How could they have arrived so quickly?"

Shyre cast the Jedi a look, diminished somewhat by the darkness. "You have no idea what I was doing in this cave, do you?"

"I think we can both fit through there," Saery said, ignoring the question and pointing at a small passageway she'd managed to create through the rock pile. "I'm holding it up manually, though, so you go first."

The passageway was really more of a hole, just big enough for a thin woman to squeeze her way through. Trusting the Jedi not to kill her this way out of all ways, Shyre consented and dove through the hole head-first. A bit of pulling and wriggling, and she was on the other side.

There was actual natural light now, since they were close to the mouth of the cave. That also meant that the sounds of battle were louder, and Shyre listened in mild delight to the shouts, screams, and mechanical whines of a pitched battleground.

Saery pulled her way through behind her, then allowed the rock pile to collapse on itself again, sealing the cave back off. She brushed herself off, then said, "Let's see what's going on out there, shall we?"

Now that there was enough light, Shyre took a moment to really examine her companion. Saery was a Mirialan woman with green skin, red-orange eyes, and white hair cut in a chin-length bob, somewhere around thirty standard years old. Shyre did remember her from Yavin - Saery had been the spearhead behind which the temporary alliance of Jedi and Sith had formed, and had taken point in the attack on Revan. She was a powerful fighter and a commanding presence, very strong in the Force. From what Shyre had seen of her fighting style, Saery was adept at using her double-bladed lightsaber to deflect and avoid harm until she found just the right moment to slip in and deal a devastating blow.

She didn't look much older than Shyre remembered - maybe just a year or two. Saery must have followed her into the cave not long after she'd hid herself away.

When the two of them emerged from the tunnel, they found themselves surrounded by soldiers in white armor. These men were clearly Republic men, but the armor looked just a bit… off. It was like an artist had heard a decent description of Republic military armor, and had done a decent job at emulating it, but some of the details were just not right.

Or, as Shyre suspected, some of the details had changed over time.

It took a moment for the soldiers to react to the sudden presence of two unexpected women in their midst, but soon enough they had formed a circle with their guns raised. One of them barked out, his voice gruff from under his helmet: "Who are you? Identify yourselves!"

Saery raised her hands placatingly. "Jedi Master Saery Dusklight. Can I speak with your commander?"

At the news that they were surrounding a Jedi, the soldiers all visibly relaxed, though they did not lower their guard completely. "The General's dead," the soldier replied. "Captain Ganger's in charge now." He gestured with his rifle for them to follow, then set off across the battlefield.

"This is all very strange," Saery said in a low voice as they followed. "I wasn't in that cave for very long. How could an entire army show up without me noticing?"

"You were in there longer than you believe, I think," Shyre said, enjoying the Jedi's confusion.

The soldier led them to another soldier in near-identical armor, the only difference being some of the decorations of rank. Presumably the captain, he looked them over, then turned to the escort for an explanation.

"Sir, these two appeared in the middle of our formation. They claim they're Jedi."

"Thank you, Bolts," the captain said. "Now back to your platoon."

"Yes, sir!" The soldier saluted, then smartly turned around and started jogging back to his post.

Then the captain looked at them for a long moment. "I don't know where you came from," he said, "but if you really are Jedi, we could use your help. The clankers have set up some cannons across the way, and they're keeping my men pinned down. Think you can take them out?"

"If we do," Saery replied, "can you spare a shuttle? We have urgent business off-world, and I'm afraid we're rather stranded otherwise."

The captain grunted. "We win this battle and I'll see what I can do."

"Very well." Saery bowed in thanks.

"Cannons are that way," the captain said, pointing off in the direction of the enemy. "You can grab a speeder from over there." He shifted his hand to a small group of speeders - the specific design was unfamiliar.

"Thank you," Saery said, and led the way over to the speeders.

Before she could mount her chosen vehicle, Shyre stopped her with an outthrust arm blocking her path."Tell me," she said, "are you really expecting me to fight on the side of the Republic? Have you forgotten that we're enemies?"

Saery paused, and glanced back. "I forgot I hadn't explained anything yet. The galaxy has changed since you entered that cave, Shyre. The Republic and the Sith aren't as opposed as you might remember. I came looking for you because I need your help." She ducked under Shyre's arm and onto the speeder; she gunned the engine a bit, and looked satisfied by the noise. "I don't expect to need that help for something like _this_ , but I think you'd get bored just waiting around for me to get back, wouldn't you?"

After a moment, Shyre got on her own speeder and turned it on. Barely paying attention, she followed the Jedi across the battlefield and up the side of the mountain, and took the time to try to sort out what was going on.

She had entered the cave knowing full well that an unknown amount of time would pass before she emerged. Indeed, an unknown amount of time had passed, and now the Republic army was wearing slightly different armor. Meanwhile, a Jedi, Saery, had also entered the cave at some uncertain point, but probably not more than a few years after she herself had entered. The Jedi did not understand the nature of the cave, and did not realize that an unknown amount of time had passed, but still spoke as if unfathomable changes had occurred.

What in the name of the Force had _happened_ during those few years before Saery entered the cave?

On a ridge along the mountainside, Saery came to a stop and looked down at the battle underway below. "I don't recognize them," she murmured, barely audible over the drone of their idling speeders.

"What?" Shyre asked, also looking down. From their vantage point they could see the clash of the two armies, the white of the Republic on one side, and various browns and greys of some droid army on the other.

"The droids," Saery said. "I assumed they were skytroopers from Zakuul, but… I don't recognize them at all."

"Does it matter?" Shyre said. One way or another, they would probably not find answers on Aloraga.

Slowly, Saery shook her head. "No. Come on, I think I see the cannons." She zoomed off in the speeder again, and Shyre allowed herself a small smile as she followed. Impending violence was always good for a pick-me-up.

They left the speeders behind a large rock, and peeked around to observe the droids guarding the cannons. Shyre spotted twelve, plus another group a few dozen meters away.

"Stealthy or flashy?" Saery asking, glancing back.

Shyre gave her a stern look. "And here I thought you knew who I was." With that, she jumped - once up to on top of the rock, and then a second time to cross the distance to the first guard droid. She ignited her lightsaber and spun through the air, cleaving neatly through it as she landed gracefully over its twitching parts.

For droids, these guards had a terrible reaction time. Shyre had already cut two more down by the time the rest had turned their blasters on her. As they began to fire, she casually deflected their bolts, then made short work of another before spotting a flash of purple light. Saery was carving a path through a clump of droids, her lightsaber's double violet blades whirling too fast for the eye to track. Shyre added another droid to the clump with a push of the Force, then turned away to neatly behead the last remaining droid.

Surrounded by the whines and sputters of destroyed droids, she approached to examine the cannon, the actual target. It seemed to be a simple mortar on top of a repulsor sled. Glancing at Saery, the two of them stood on opposite sides and stabbed down, their blades making short work of the artillery. Soon the repulsor sled itself failed, and the whole contraption slammed half a meter to the ground.

"Did the captain mention how many of these there are?" Saery asked, gazing around at the surrounding battle.

"I suppose we continue until we run out of targets," Shyre said, then took off running towards the next cannon, its guards already firing at her from a distance. Maybe this - fighting for the Republic alongside a Jedi - was technically aiding her enemy, but she owed nothing to these strange droids, and anyway the alternatives were distasteful at best.

* * *

"Thank you, Master Jedi," the Republic captain said. "The loss of those cannons really turned the battle around. We held our ground, thanks to you." He had taken off his helmet, revealing a rugged human face with close-cropped hair. "I can spare one shuttle to get you off this rock. It won't be the height of luxury, but it'll get you where you want to go."

"That's all we need, thank you," Saery assured him. She looked over the shuttle in question, a squat little thing with military markings. "Is it fueled up and ready to fly?"

"One-oh-Eight!" the captain called, and another soldier came jogging up. He also had his helmet off, and while Saery remained impassive from the outside, Shyre could feel her surprise bubble up in the Force. To be fair, she also thought it was interesting that this soldier looked exactly like the captain, with the sole exception of a slightly different haircut. Identical twin brothers?

"Sir?" the soldier said when he arrived.

"Is the shuttle prepped to fly?" the captain asked.

"Yes, sir," the soldier said. "It needed a bit of tuning after that dust-up last week, but I took care of that last night myself. Just needs a pilot."

The captain turned back to Saery. "There you have it. You're all set to go."

"Thank you again, Captain," Saery said, and after a quick glance at Shyre, she moved to board the shuttle.

But Shyre paused before following. "Captain," she said, "what standard year is it?"

The identical faces of captain and soldier both stared back at her. "Sixteen," the captain said eventually, and Shyre merely nodded her thanks instead of following up. Meaningless, except to confirm that it was no year she was familiar with.

But now it was time to actually discuss this with the Jedi, which would only be fun.

She boarded the shuttle and closed the hatch. It was just as cramped on the inside as it looked on the outside; just a few steps forward and she was in the second of the two chairs available. "Jedi," she said.

"Yes?" Saery didn't look at her, as she was busy familiarizing herself with the controls.

"Now that we are leaving the planet, we need to discuss where we are going."

"I'm taking you to Odessen," Saery said. "I have a base there, and on the way I can tell you about what your old Emperor's been up to since he left Yavin."

That did sound interesting, but… "No," Shyre said. "You _had_ a base there. It's time you understood how long we spent in the cave."

"I know it was longer than expected," Saery said, frowning, "but that's all the more reason to hurry back. Last time I disappeared I got quite an earful."

"When I entered the cave on Aloraga," Shyre said flatly, "it was with the understanding that I would be held in stasis for at least a generation. By all evidence, that has indeed come to pass. If any of your people are still at your base, then they are quite dedicated indeed."

"What?" Saery responded, surprised. "How would that even be possible?" She goosed the throttle, and the shuttle began to rise towards the edge of the atmosphere. "I was stuck in carbonite for five years once, and I barely survived. You expect me to believe that we just stood around in a cave for- what, twenty years? Without aging or getting hungry?"

"Not quite," Shyre said. "I believe we 'stood around' in a cave for just a few minutes, while at least twenty years went by outside." She considered for a moment, then admitted, "It is a very strange thing, that cave, and I do not fully understand it."

"I'm still taking you to Odessen," Saery said. "I'll trust that my people are there until I see for myself that they're not."

"I would rather go to Coruscant," Shyre said casually.

At that, Saery paused in the middle of activating the nav computer. "Coruscant? You want me to take _you_ to Coruscant?"

"Aren't you the one who claimed we are not currently enemies?" Shyre said. "And I can't think of a better place to figure out the state of the galaxy and how long we were in the cave than the capital of the Republic. If I'm wrong and it hasn't been too long, then we can go to your Odessen."

Saery was quiet for a long moment, then sighed and nodded. "We will go to Coruscant."


	3. Chapter 2

_**Chapter 2** _

_Hyperspace, en route to Coruscant_

"So, I have a question," Saery said as the shuttle neared the end of its time in hyperspace.

"I may have an answer," the Sith at her side responded in her dry, almost sarcastic voice.

Saery glanced over, and asked, "What's with the hood?"

Darth Shyre was wearing compact body armor, and over it, a cloak that looked black in the shadows but was actually just a very deep purple, as evidenced in bright light - like the light in the shuttle. This cloak had a hood. Shyre had been wearing the hood up while in the cave, and had kept it up as they emerged, and even as they fought the droids. She was surely cheating somehow to keep it from blowing off her head naturally, but Saery wasn't curious about the how. She was curious about the why.

"I am a Sith Lord," Shyre responded flatly.

Saery's best guess was the scars. While Shyre otherwise looked like a perfectly unassuming (if rather too pale) young woman, she happened to bear three long scars on the left side of her face, like something with very big claws had sliced from her forehead all the way down to her chin. Actually, given the rumors Saery had heard about Korriban, that was probably exactly what had happened. They must have been horrific gashes, considering how visible the scars still were.

And yet, curiously, Shyre's bright green eyes were completely unharmed.

"I've fought lots of Sith who didn't wear hoods," Saery said. "As far as I know, you don't have a dress code."

Shyre shifted a bit, and suddenly Saery could no longer see her face - that hood, the very topic of conversation, was blocking her view of the Sith's expression. "I would not expect a Jedi to understand the delicate balance of power among the Sith," Shyre said. "Or the value of _presentation._ "

"Well, there's no one to posture to here," Saery said. "Just me."

"Indeed," Shyre said, but any further conversation was interrupted by the shuttle dropping out of hyperspace - and the blaring of the console as the sensors detected the rather obvious battle raging just ahead of them.

"By the Force-!" With that mild curse, Saery rushed to take the controls, and began basic evasive patterns while they tried to figure out what was going on. "We're at Coruscant, right? The nav computer did seem strange."

"We are in the right system," Shyre confirmed, focused now on the sensor readouts. "There appears to be a large battle taking place immediately above the planet, with many ships actually in the fringes of Coruscant's atmosphere." She examined the data on the screens carefully while Saery focused on piloting. "If we are to trust the shuttle, the Republic is on the defensive against… Interesting. I assume a 'Confederacy of Independent Systems' means nothing to you?"

"Nothing," Saery confirmed. It didn't seem like they had attracted much attention yet, so she toned down her evasive piloting and simply started flying towards the planet.

"There's… something else," Shyre said. "There's definitely a Sith out there. A powerful one."

Saery took a moment to reach out with the Force. She could very faintly feel the presence of other Jedi, but that was hardly shocking, considering it was Coruscant. Nothing familiar, and nothing particularly Dark. "I don't sense anything," she said.

"Really?" Shyre said curiously. "It's quite distinct. If I'm not mistaken, they're on the Confederacy's flagship, which is-" She broke off and stared at her computer readouts for a moment. "-Which has just broken in half, and is going to crash into the planet shortly."

"Oh," Saery said. "Well." Some of the enemy ships were taking potshots at their shuttle, but for the most part they seemed to be scattered and beginning their retreat. "Looks like it should be safe to make our approach," she commented, then began to slip past the battle and into the atmosphere. Planetary customs never contacted them, but given the chaos of the battle she thought it was fair to excuse the lapse.

"Impressive," Shyre said as they touched down on a landing pad, still looking at the console.

"What is?" Saery asked. It had been a perfectly average landing.

"That flagship," Shyre said. "Someone managed to control its descent enough that the crash _didn't_ kill everyone on board."

"How?" Saery felt slightly baffled. While she could certainly handle herself at the controls of a ship - as she had just proved - she was far from an expert pilot, and struggled to imagine pulling off the kind of miracle it would take to salvage the engineless descent of half a dreadnought.

Since there was no good answer, Shyre just smirked a bit at her. Sighing, Saery opened the hatch, and made it only a few steps out onto the platform before something in the distance caught her eye.

It was a proud-looking building, bold and rectangular at the base but with four tall spires at the corners, spaced around one larger grand spire in the center. It was massive, easily dominating the skyline for kilometers around. It drew the eye, demanded attention. It was familiar.

Her own memories of the Jedi Temple involved skulking around in monster-infested ruins hoping to find the archives. She'd seen holos of the temple before its destruction during the Sacking of Coruscant and thought them impressive, but this…

But there had never been any budget or inclination to repair or restore the temple during the war. And after Lana had rescued her from her time in carbonite, the galaxy had been embroiled in dealing with Zakuul, and she was quite certain the Senate had not seen fit to authorize its reconstruction in the midst of the heavy penalties and tributes demanded of them by the Eternal Empire.

And yet here it stood, proud and strong, and _old_. Even from so far away, Saery could feel the weight of generations of Jedi living and working in the Temple, imbuing it with its own kind of presence in the Force.

"Shyre," Saery said quietly, "how long did you say we were in the cave?"

"I don't know," Shyre responded. Even she seemed to feel the gravity of the moment. "A long time."

"We'll get our answers at the Temple," Saery said, and broke away from the captivating view to examine the landing platform. "There should be… ah, yes." A simple two-person speeder, designed to aid in transportation to and among the tall buildings of Coruscant. The two of them boarded, with Saery once again at the controls.

"So it seems the Republic and the Sith are not quite as allied as you described," Shyre said lightly during the ride over.

"Are you that eager to return to a life of shadow politics and exaggerated bravado?" Saery asked. "We don't know if the Sith still exist, much less who they're allied with."

"I told you, there was a Sith on that flagship," Shyre said. "It was a Confederate ship, which means they are at war with the Republic."

"And I told you I didn't sense anything," Saery said. "Regardless, we'll find out soon enough." She parked the speeder and hopped out, and began to ascend the long steps to the front doors of the Temple, Shyre behind and to the right.

As they entered the Temple, Saery noted the general air of excitement. She guessed it had to do with the battle that had just ended above their heads - while the Republic had seemed on the defensive for the snippet of battle she'd witnessed, the downing of the enemy flagship had turned the tide in a big way, and would possibly have powerful ramifications for the rest of the war overall. Or so she assumed - without knowing the root of the conflict, it was difficult to be sure.

They were halfway through the entry hall when their path was blocked by a short, green creature, a species Saery had seen before but could not name off the top of her head. "Visitors to the Temple you are," he said. "Identify yourselves, you must." He was old, and Saery could feel the power and wisdom within him. From the glances of the surrounding Jedi, he was held in great respect.

Saery had a suspicion they had found the current Grand Master of the Order.

She bowed deeply. "My apologies, Master. I am Saery Dusklight. I am a Jedi, but I may be, ah… from before your time." She glanced at the Sith at her side. "This is Shyre, my companion."

The small master thumped his walking stick on the ground lightly. "Nearly nine hundred years old, I am," he said. "Before my time' - a bold claim, that is!"

Saery's eyes went wide. "Nine hundred years…"

Another master approached from the side. He was a human, with dark skin and a bald head. He held himself with a quiet confidence that Saery recognized from several of her most powerful peers, and most recently from Shyre beside her.

"Is everything in order, Master Yoda?" the new arrival asked, his tone carrying an implied threat towards the visitors if the answer was no.

"A Jedi she is," the little green master - Yoda - said, pointing his stick at Saery, "but shrouded in mystery, her origin remains. And beside her, darkness there is."

Shyre tensed slightly. Saery willed her to remain calm.

"I'm here for answers, nothing more," the Sith said.

"We'll see about that," the human master said. He turned to Master Yoda. "I'll take them up to the council. Obi-Wan should be here soon, and we can question them after his report."

"Agree, I do," Yoda said, and he began to walk slowly to the side of the room, where Saery guessed he would catch a lift.

The human master turned back to the two women. "Until we get some answers, I'm going to have to ask you to relinquish your lightsabers," he said.

Saery nodded, and reached into her robes to retrieve hers. She held it out, and the master hesitated for a moment before taking it. Perhaps he was unused to double-bladed sabers - they did tend to fall in and out of fashion - or maybe he found the design interesting. The shaft was mainly a dull copper color, but there were tendrils of blue that stretched along the entire length, radiating out like webs of energy from the grips. She knew it was rather distinctive, as lightsaber designs went; her previous had been a typical uniform metallic gray. But this was the saber she had constructed under the supervision of Satele Shan and the ghost of Darth Marr, so it was what it was.

Shyre seemed rather more reluctant to part with her saber, which turned out to have a hilt of black with deep red paneling and highlights, but soon enough the master was satisfied, and turned to lead them off to a side passage.

"I am taking you to a waiting room," he told them. "When we are ready to discuss your… circumstances… we will summon you. Do not attempt to leave, and do _not_ start any trouble."

"Of course," Saery said, "Master…?"

"Windu," he replied shortly, then gestured them onto a lift.

The rest of the trip was silent, but that suited Saery fine; she spent it keeping an eye on Shyre, who after all was a Sith Lord being escorted to the heart of the Jedi Order. She seemed calm, however, with her hands folded in front, staring at nothing in particular on the wall of the lift.

At the top, Master Windu gestured them into a small room, then closed them in and left. The room was reasonably comfortable, with a couple of low padded chairs facing inward at a round central table. There was also a decent view out over the rest of Coruscant, emphasizing how much higher the Temple spires were than the surrounding buildings.

"Now that we have a moment," Shyre said, "you mentioned something about telling me what our friend the Emperor has been up to?"

"Right," Saery said, and moved to sit in one of the chairs. "What's the last thing you remember? Did you go into the cave immediately after Yavin?"

"Effectively," Shyre said, sitting opposite. "I took time to prepare, but I had no contact during that time. If anything happened, I did not hear of it."

"Well, something certainly happened," Saery said, rubbing her temples. "After the Emperor left Yavin, he went to Ziost, and… despite our best efforts, he drained the planet of its entire life force. All of it. Every living thing, dead."

"But not you, clearly," Shyre commented.

Saery shook her head. "I was on a station in orbit at the time. I got to _watch._ "

"The Emperor regained his full power, then? Did he immediately reclaim control of the Empire?"

"No, actually," Saery said. "After Ziost, he left and, for a time, we had no idea where he was. But, meanwhile, an unknown faction starting sending raiding fleets out of Wild Space. They swept through the nearby systems easily, and Darth Marr set out with a task force to hunt this new enemy down and destroy them, with a secondary goal of scouting for signs of the Emperor."

"This unknown faction - they are the Zakuul you have mentioned?" Shyre was leaning forward, obviously interested in the story.

"Yes. And the Republic couldn't do anything to stop them. The Sith Empire couldn't do anything to stop them. Their main advantage was what they call the Infinite Fleet - a truly staggering number of unmanned ships controlled by a network of AIs and commanded by the so-called Eternal Throne. Whoever sits on the Throne and controls the Infinite Fleet has the firepower to subjugate whoever they choose." Saery paused. "But, I'm getting ahead of myself."

She stood up and began to pace. "I was with Darth Marr. I was effectively second in command. It was odd, serving under a Sith Lord, but once again we found ourselves with a common enemy. But when we encountered the Infinite Fleet in Wild Space, we were quickly overrun. Darth Marr and myself were taken hostage, and brought to the Throne to stand before the Emperor."

At Saery's dramatic pause, Shyre said, "The emperor of Zakuul, you mean."

"That's just it," Saery said. "Zakuul's emperor, their 'Eternal Emperor,' _was Vitiate._ They called him Valkorion, but Darth Marr and I knew instantly that the being who stood before us was the very Emperor we were searching for. Somehow, he had built up and reigned over an entirely separate empire in Wild Space while simultaneously ruling over your Sith Empire. After the events of the war saw him no longer in control of the Sith, he used the deaths on Yavin and Ziost to regain power then retreated to focus on the one empire he did still rule - Zakuul."

"This is… quite a story," Shyre said. "Two empires, mutually ignorant of each other, but with the same emperor?"

"You were his Wrath," Saery said, "so I'm sure you were familiar with how he operated through his Voices?"

"Of course," Shyre said. "I even killed one myself." Saery blinked, surprised - wasn't that treason? - but Shyre continued without much time for fuss. "If he could maintain two Voices, independent, in completely different parts of the galaxy…"

"You're starting to understand what Darth Marr and I felt, standing there in that throne room," Saery said, taking back the thread of the story. "Valkorion demanded that we kneel and submit to him. Marr refused and tried to attack, so Valkorion killed him. He may have killed me as well, but his son, Arcann, used the opportunity-"

"His _what_?" Shyre exclaimed, half standing out of her chair.

"Valkorion had children," Saery said brusquely. "Twin sons and a daughter. One son, Thexan, died at some point during the raids into Republic and Imperial space. It was the other son, Arcann, who took advantage of the distraction provided by Darth Marr and stabbed Valkorion in the back, killing him - or rather, killing his body. As we are both well aware, killing the host does not kill Vitiate."

"He didn't have a _third_ secret empire to retreat to, I assume?" Shyre said, slowly sinking back into the chair.

Saery didn't answer. She was busy debating how much detail to share about what happened next. Putting aside all the questions even she wouldn't be able to answer, would knowing that Valkorion had spent some time living in the back of her mind make Shyre trust her less? If the modern Jedi were listening in, it would surely make _them_ trust her less.

Instead, she merely said, "After assuming control of Zakuul, instead of killing me Arcann had me frozen in carbonite and locked away. After five years I was rescued by Lana Beniko, whom you may remember had been the Minister of Sith Intelligence. Then, in short, we established an alliance consisting of refugees and volunteers from Republic and Sith space both, in order to more effectively combat Arcann and Zakuul."

"And that's where I come in," Shyre said. "You thought I would be useful."

"Yes," Saery said unapologetically.

Shyre was quiet for a long time, then repeated, "This is quite a story."

"Like I said," Saery sighed, "the galaxy changed a lot while you were in the cave. I suppose we'll just have to see what else has changed while we were both in there." She shook her head slowly. "Nine hundred years…"

As if on cue, the door swooshed open, and Master Windu stepped in, stony-faced. "The council will see you now."


	4. Chapter 3

_**Chapter 3** _

_Coruscant - Jedi Temple_

Shyre thought she had mentally prepared for anything before consigning herself to the future, but she had to admit that she hadn't even imagined being granted an audience with the Jedi Council on her first day out of the cave.

There were twelve chairs arranged in a nearly-full circle, and all but one were occupied, though two were only "occupied" via holoprojector. These would be the strongest and wisest Jedi of the day, and a little voice in the back of her brain wondered whether any of them were good enough to beat her in a head-on fight. In her own time - that was, before the cave - only the very best of the Jedi would even provide a challenge. She begrudgingly included her current companion, Saery, in that number; she had no particular desire to find out quite yet which of them would walk away from a true battle to the death.

The bald black Jedi, Windu, leaned forward with a somewhat imperious expression. "Our two guests here," he said to the rest of the council, "walked into the Temple shortly after the end of the battle. They made no attempts at stealth or subterfuge. The woman on the left claims to be a Jedi. The woman on the right has made no claims, but is practically a beacon of the Dark Side of the Force. So, I would like to hear from you first," he said specifically to Shyre. "Who are you and why are you here?"

"I am Darth Shyre," she announced proudly. "I am a Lord of the Sith. And I am here because I have spent an undetermined amount of time held in a time stasis, and Coruscant seemed the best choice of location to quickly determine the state of things in the galaxy."

The shock in the room was palpable. Interestingly, some of them reacted more to her claim of being Sith than to her claims of time stasis, even after they had made such a big deal about sensing the Dark Side in her.

"And you?" one of the other Jedi said to Saery. It was one of the ones in holo, placed between the little green Jedi and a middle-aged man who was merely observing them both with a small frown. "Do you claim to be a Sith as well?"

"No, Master," Saery responded politely to the absurd question. "I am a Jedi. In my time I sat upon this very council. I am sure you have record of me, if you look back far enough."

"Ah yes," a third master cut in. "This 'time stasis.' How far back do you suggest we look, exactly?"

"We're not sure," Saery said, with a side glance at Shyre. "That's part of what we're hoping to determine here. If it helps, I served under the tenure of Grand Master Satele Shan."

"Shan…" the little green master said. "A very old name, that is. Consult the archives, we must."

Windu pulled a comlink from somewhere in his robes. "Master Nu," he said into it. "What do the archives have to say on a Grand Master Satele Shan?" Then they waited for an impressively short time before a woman's voice came back over the comlink.

"I recognize that name," the voice - presumably of Master Nu - replied. "Master Shan is the last Grand Master we know of before the Lost Records."

"The Lost Records?" Saery asked.

"A period of approximately fifteen hundred years for which we have very few remaining records," one of the Jedi on the council answered. "Largely a historical curiosity, these days."

"Fifteen hundred years…" Saery repeated faintly.

Shyre crossed her arms. "And how long ago was this Lost Records period?"

The council exchanged uneasy glances. "By the common understanding of the term, it's been about two thousand years since it ended," Windu admitted.

Saery swayed slightly. "Then- it's been-"

"Three and a half millennia," Shyre said. "It makes no difference. We already knew it had been long enough for everyone we knew to be dead."

Somehow, this bluntless helped the Mirialan to recover. "I… apologize," she said to the council. "It had not quite sunk in."

After a bit of an awkward pause, Master Nu's voice came over the comlink. "Did you need anything else, Master Windu?"

"Yes," he said. "Do you have any records of who served on the Council under Grand Master Shan?"

"I have some," the archivist replied. "Do you want me to look for a specific name?"

"Saery Dusklight," Saery said, still a little wooden after the revelation of how many years she'd lost. Windu repeated it into the comlink so Nu could hear.

There was a longer delay this time. Then Nu said, "Ah, yes, here we are. Master Dusklight was elevated to the Council after the death of Master Syo Bakarn. There's also a note here of some ceremonial title…"

Shyre smirked a bit.

"Barsen'thor," Saery said before Nu could continue. "It means 'Warden of the Order.'"

"That's quite the title," the middle-aged man next to the holo said.

Saery bowed in slightly-aggrieved thanks.

Windu thanked Master Nu and put the comlink away. "So. Either you are telling the truth, and you have come to us from three and a half thousand years ago, or you chose an obscure name to impersonate. And you walk beside a woman who claims to be a Sith."

"Speaking of me," Shyre cut in, "what can you tell me of the state of the Sith Empire?"

"There is no Sith Empire," another of the Jedi said sternly. "There hasn't been for thousands of-" He broke off, apparently remembering the whole "three and a half thousand years" thing.

"No Sith Empire?" Shyre repeated. In truth it was not a huge surprise; without the Emperor as a central figurehead, it wouldn't have taken much for the Dark Council to tear itself apart from infighting. The real question was what had happened to the Sith themselves after the disorganization - it was hard to believe any collapse of the Dark Council would also somehow remove all Sith from the galaxy.

However, it was troublesome that while this Jedi Council clearly knew what a Sith was, they seemed to have trouble believing that she _was_ one.

"Until recently," Windu said gravely, "we believed the Sith had been eradicated from the galaxy. Thirteen years ago, we discovered that they were not as gone as we hoped."

"Hidden for a millennium, the Sith have been," Master Yoda intoned. "Always two there are - a master and an apprentice."

"Always what?" Shyre said flatly.

"For a thousand years, the Sith have limited themselves to a single unbroken chain of succession," Windu explained, "operating in the shadows, waiting for the right moment to reveal themselves and strike."

"What an… odd idea," Shyre said, thinking back to the Sith she knew. She tried to imagine being the apprentice of her own master, Darth Baras, in a galaxy with no other Sith at all. Who would Baras have tried to manipulate? Would Baras have betrayed her? And of course she could never have become the Emperor's Wrath if there was no emperor… "Then, thirteen years ago they revealed themselves as the leaders of that Confederacy you were battling up there?"

"Not quite," Windu said, "and now is not the time for a lesson in galactic politics." He leaned forward in his chair. "Now we need to decide what to do with you. Both of you."

"We cannot allow a Sith to walk free," one of the other Jedi on the council said.

"She has made no aggressive actions toward us," a different Jedi countered. "Can we condemn her merely for her words?"

"Can you not sense her?" the first Jedi responded. "I have no doubt she has killed many Jedi. Even if it was three thousand years ago, we should not forget that."

"To be fair," Saery commented, "she served as the Sith Emperor's personal enforcer. She's probably killed more of her fellow Sith than she has Jedi."

Judging by the expressions of the Council members, this fact did not seem to cast her in any more favorable a light.

"And tell us, Master Dusklight," Master Windu said, "what circumstances led a member of the Council to walk calmly beside 'the Sith Emperor's personal enforcer'?"

Saery frowned at him. "We were caught in the time stasis together, if you recall. It seemed prudent to work together to seek out information on the state of the galaxy." She didn't mention anything about specifically seeking Shyre out in order to recruit her - and if Saery was going to keep that part private, Shyre felt no need to reveal it.

"You'll have to forgive our hesitance," the middle-aged man said. "It's not every day a Jedi Master pops up out of nowhere, and we're all a bit distracted by the narrowly-averted disaster earlier."

"You mean the battle," Saery surmised.

"The Chancellor was captured," he explained. "But we were able to recover him."

"And to kill a Sith in the process," one of the others said, sounding almost like a warning.

"That was Anakin," the man said, "not me."

"So now there's only one?" Shyre mused. "Since you said there were only two. Did you kill the master, or the apprentice?"

"The apprentice," he said, sounding frustrated.

"While we know the Sith master exists," Windu said, "he has so far evaded our detection."

"Fascinating," Shyre said, and she made her decision about where to go next. This whole room full of Jedi Masters seemed to be oblivious to the Sith presence that was practically next door - Shyre could sense the direction, and knew it was close, though she didn't know Coruscant well enough to predict with any confidence what the actual building was. She couldn't be sure if it was this "master Sith" that she was sensing, but if nothing else, it would get her on the right track.

Now all she had to do was find her way out of the Temple…

Apparently, she wasn't the only one who felt the audience was over. "Complete our deliberations, we must," Yoda said.

"I agree," Windu said. "You two, make your way back to the waiting room while we make our final decisions."

Saery bowed; Shyre did not bother. They both turned and left the Council room. When the door closed behind them, Shyre turned towards the lift instead of back to the waiting room.

"Well, Jedi," she said, "it's been interesting. But it's time for me to make my own way, I think."

Saery just looked at her for a few moments. Then she said, "You're leaving your lightsaber behind?"

In response, Shyre pulled her lightsaber hilt from under her cloak. "Not a problem," she said smugly. "And you can tell Master Windu he needs to be more careful of pickpockets."

Saery's mouth opened, but apparently she could not think of anything to actually say to this, so she ended up just sighing. "Very well," she said. "I can't stop you from going. Just try to remember that we are the only two people in the galaxy who remember where we came from."

At that, Shyre nodded. "I will not forget." Then she got on the lift and proceeded to walk right out of the Jedi Temple, even as the Council far above thought they could decide her fate.

* * *

It was easy enough to take the speeder Saery had piloted from the landing platform. It was less simple to decide where to go. Shyre could sense the darkness in the distance and had a direction, but that turned out to be less helpful than it might have been when confronted with Coruscant's chaotic, winding speederways. She would have preferred to just fly above it all and make for a straight dash, but unfortunately using a publicly accessible self-service speeder had its downsides - no matter how hard she pulled back on the controls, the speeder outright refused to go above a certain height. Shyre could do a lot of things, but she certainly could not hack into a speeder and override its operational parameters _while_ she was busy piloting it.

She followed the flow of traffic for a bit, aiming in the general direction she wanted, but eventually decided her life would be made simpler if she just ditched the speeder and found another method of transportation. Someone's private vehicle, perhaps, which would be able to fly with no automated restrictions.

She parked the speeder in the first convenient space she saw, then hopped out and began to explore a bit on foot. She had never been on Coruscant before, and she wasn't sure if she liked it. It was all buildings, all the way down - even the "street" she was on was artificial, with who knew how many levels of city below it. There was little wonder the Jedi kept to their temple, which raised them high above it all. Better to be above the masses than caught in a throng of billions.

Dromund Kaas, the capital of the Sith Empire she remembered, had been very different. A few cities served as bastions of civilization, surrounded by savage wildlife and deadly forests, while all the while that ominous storm raged above. It was never pleasant weather on Dromund Kaas. She supposed it was never any weather at all on Coruscant.

She spotted a seedy bar, and decided to go in. Lowlifes could usually be counted on to be helpful, once they were given the right… motivation.

The bartender was a low-stooped Ithorian. He looked haggard, though Shyre could not consider herself an expert in Ithorian body language. She ignored him completely, and sat in a corner without ordering anything.

It didn't take long for one of the locals to slither up to her. He was a human, as far as she could tell under the layers of dirt and grease that caked his face. He grinned at her unpleasantly.

"Hello, pretty lady," he said. "Don't you know it's rude not to introduce a new face?"

"I'm looking for transportation," she said. "Preferably small and maneuverable. Do you have anything like that?"

She could basically see the wheels turning behind his eyes. "Why of course," he said after far too long. "If you'll follow me outside, we can talk _business_."

Shyre stood, and gestured for him to lead the way. She observed the quick hand signal he sent to one of the other patrons at the bar. She would have a group to deal with outside. That was fine.

The dirty man led her to a speeder lot, where he proceeded to walk slowly down the center, carefully examining each speeder as they passed. He stopped when they found one that more or less met Shyre's description - a red single-seat speeder bike. The man patted the seat proudly and turned to Shyre. "My pride an' joy," he said, lying through his teeth.

"It will do," Shyre said.

"So, here's what I'm thinking," he said. "I'll let you have a ride, if you'll let me have a ride, if you get my meaning." He giggled, an awful, high-pitched laugh that sounded slightly like a hyena.

"Get it running," Shyre said, "and then we can discuss terms."

Feeling generous, perhaps, with the hope of his desired reward still on the table, the man popped off the panel hiding the speeder bike's circuitry and spent just a few moments fiddling around. Soon enough, the bike whined to life, ready to fly.

The man rubbed his hands together and turned back to Shyre. "There, now, she's good to go." He leered at her. "And so are you, I hope."

She could sense three more people standing quietly behind her. They hadn't made much noise or drawn attention to themselves, so intimidation by numbers was not the goal. They'd join the fray soon enough, though. She drew her lightsaber and ignited it. "You get one chance to run," she informed him, speaking loudly enough for the whole group to hear. "Do not stand in my way."

"H-Hey," the man said, stumbling back a bit, "you're a Jedi?" He was staring at her lightsaber, which she knew was an unusual sight even to those used to seeing the brilliant blades of light from day to day. There was just something vaguely disturbing about the way the yellow-orange seemed to darken to a core of black. It bothered Jedi, who were used to blue and green, and it bothered her fellow Sith, who were used to red. Both were helpful. Saery had not been wrong, in the Council chamber, when she'd said that Shyre had killed many Sith.

"Time's up," she informed the man, then leapt forward at him before he could scream for help. He was no soldier, had no secret weapons or unexpected reflexes to save him. He was dead before her feet touched the ground.

There was a bit of a strangled cry from the three watching from the shadows. Using the Force, she lifted the dead man's body and hurled it in their direction. One of them had the presence of mind to take a few potshots at her, but they were easily deflected even as she settled herself on the speeder bike.

This was the kind of problem she was good at - the kind where violence could get her what she wanted. Never mind that the bike technically belonged to some unknown third party. She could ditch it once she got to where she was going, after she _figured out_ where she was going.

She merged back into the organized chaos of Coruscant traffic. The speeder bike was fast and responsive, and didn't try to keep her in any "safe" lanes. It wasn't much to go on, but it was the most she'd had since the cave, and she'd made do with less before.

She was on her way.


	5. Chapter 4

_**Chapter 4** _

_Coruscant - Jedi Temple_

Saery let her mind drift back to her body, to the present. She always felt refreshed after some good meditation.

She was in the simple guest quarters which had been afforded to her by the Jedi Council. It had little more than a bed and a chest of drawers, but she had plenty of experience living in stark or spartan environments.

She began to prepare for the day.

The Council had not been happy about Shyre's disappearance. She could tell that there were a couple masters who believed she, Saery, was in league with the Sith and had helped plan her escape. The rest understood that there was little she could have done to stop her, especially when Shyre was armed and Saery was not. At least, she hoped they understood. Regardless, once the second round of arguing had stopped, they'd given her a room and told her to await another summons the next day.

So here she was, awaiting summons.

Judging from the chronometer in the room, she had slept in late by Coruscanti standards. She was too used to the cycles of Odessen and Zakuul. She would have to fix that.

In a surprising touch, the room included fresh, clean Jedi robes in her size, or close enough. She was still getting used to the idea of skipping three and a half thousand years, but Jedi fashion was apparently timeless. She dressed, making sure her lightsaber was clipped securely to her belt. She'd been allowed it back, once the Council was satisfied that she bore them no ill intent. As far as she could tell, they hadn't completely decided to trust that she was who she claimed to be, but she was undeniably a Jedi of some caliber, and it seemed that they were at least willing to play along in the meantime.

They hadn't said anything about staying confined to quarters, so once she was ready she left the room, trusting them to find her one way or another when it was time to see the Council again.

She wandered the halls of the Temple, this time catching no particular extra interest. She was wearing modern robes, and there were enough Jedi in the Temple that nobody could personally know every single other Jedi, so her relatively unfamiliar face received no more than a few half-curious glances. The only possibly exception she could think of would be Yoda, who at his age might very well be able to claim that he knew every single living Jedi who had passed through this temple's walls.

Her wanders took her to a training room full of young Jedi - judging from the species whose ages were easy to guess, this group was about ready to be taken on as Padawan learners. Each of them had their lightsabers out, and they were going through motions of some practice kata, following along after the master who stood at the front of the room. He was a somewhat-aging human male, with long brown hair, and she could tell from watching him that he was an expert with a lightsaber.

Saery didn't recognize the specific series of movements, but she supposed it was not unreasonable for katas to change over thousands of years.

She stood in the doorway, watching, until the master caught sight of her.

"Ah, we have a visitor," he said cheerfully. It seemed he did not resent the interruption. "Tell me, how can we help you, Master?"

"I was just thinking," Saery said, "that one is never too old to go back and review the basics. With your permission of course, Master."

"If you think you can keep up," the master said with a grin. "This is a talented group of younglings!"

The kids in question tittered a bit, then regained their focus as Saery bowed politely. There was a rack of practice sabers at the back of the room, so she summoned one of them with the Force rather than make things difficult by drawing her own double-bladed saber.

After she took her position behind the rows of younglings, the master began to move through the katas again. Saery allowed herself to focus on nothing but the movement, following the master's slow gestures exactly - but slightly behind. This did not go unnoticed.

He had the students sit and meditate for a minute, and gestured for Saery to step out into the hall with him.

"Forgive me, but I don't recognize you," he said, still sounding friendly, "and you clearly are not familiar with these 'basics.'"

Saery nodded. "These are not the katas I learned when I was young," she said, which was true. "It was… a long time ago."

She could sense the other Jedi's slight skepticism - she clearly didn't _look_ old enough to have learned some previous set of katas instead. She wondered if he was going to accuse her of anything. Instead, what he said was, "Would you consent to a practice duel? To let the children watch."

Saery smiled. "Of course. Though you should probably not use my technique as a teaching point. It may not be quite what you're used to."

At that, the Jedi's eyebrows quirked up. "Cin Drallig," he said, reaching out a hand.

"Saery Dusklight," Saery said, shaking it.

"For the sake of the exhibition," Master Drallig said, "what lightsaber form do you favor?"

That was actually not a simple question to answer, since she was so used to the double-bladed saber, which had a whole separate set of disciplines. Plus, she didn't know if the forms had changed at all over the millennia, like the katas had. She said, "Like I said - it may not be anything you're used to."

Drallig looking more curious than ever, the two of them re-entered the training room.

While he corralled the younglings and explained what was about to happen, Saery tried to remember what she had learned, long ago, about basic single-saber combat forms. The trouble was that she'd gravitated towards the saber staff very early on, and she hadn't really done any fighting with a single saber ever since.

In truth, that was a big part of why she was going through with this mock duel. She really did need to brush up on the basics, and a training session in a relatively calm temple offered an opportunity the Alliance base on Odessen never could.

Saery and Master Drallig bowed to each other, and then to the gathered students. They both ignited their lightsabers, and saluted. That part at least was the same.

Drallig struck a firm opening stance that Saery did at least recognize. This would be Shii-Cho, the first form, considered by many to be the most basic. Saery copied his stance. Once again, she could tell that Drallig could tell.

He advanced with a few basic slashing attacks, and she did her best to look clean and competent with her technique as she blocked. After just a couple of parries, Drallig stepped back and turned to the class.

"So," he asked them, "if you were the lightsaber instructor in the room, what advice would you give to Master Dusklight?"

One of the boys raised his hand. "Shii-Cho is about fluid movement!"

A Twi'lek girl soon followed. "Use wide, sweeping blocks to defend!"

It was clear that they were parroting instructions that had been given to them at some point recently. Still, Saery had to admire Master Drallig's pedagogical technique. He was using her own clumsiness and rustiness as an educational moment, and even making it look like the whole thing was a deliberate exercise for their benefit, preserving her reputation. She was impressed.

Drallig adjusted his stance, shifting to a one-handed grip on his saber. This was also simple enough to remember: Makashi, the form developed specifically for duelling. Once again she copied his stance, and they met with a few more clashes. This time Saery felt comfortable enough to counter-attack when the opportunity presented itself - though it was very obvious to her that those opportunities were deliberately left open by Master Drallig for the benefit of the exhibition.

Once again, when they paused, Drallig solicited some advice from the students on how she should improve. Then they proceeded to the next form. Saery also recognized Soresu, the defensive form; many of its precepts held for use of the double-bladed lightsaber as well, though of course there were many modifications necessary to accommodate that second blade.

The two squared off in Soresu ready guards, and both waited for the other to advance. After a few long, long seconds, when the younglings began to giggle, Saery took the plunge and stepped forward to attack.

A couple of the students called out theatrically for her to stop, and she knew some of her upcoming "advice" would be that Soresu was about patience, and that she had "lost" the moment she had switched to the offensive. But that was fine.

When Drallig shifted to his next form, however, Saery had to admit that she was not familiar with it at all. She could not name it, and she could not recall anything with how its strikes and parries were supposed to look. She gave her opponent a tiny shake of the head, and he nodded in acknowledgement. He relaxed his guard, and turned to the students.

"Some of you with sharp eyes may have noticed something about Master Dusklight," he said, gesturing in her direction. "Can you tell me, what form of combat do you think she specializes in?"

Most of them glanced at each other, unsure, but a Rodian boy sitting in the back raised his hand. "She has a saber staff!" he said. It was true - she had never removed her own lightsaber from her belt. It was ostensibly hidden in the folds of her Jedi robes, but at some point during the mock duel it must have shown for a moment.

"What do you think?" Master Drallig said in an aside to Saery. "Do you want to show off a bit for the younglings?"

Smiling a little to herself, Saery handed her borrowed saber off to one of the students sitting closest, then drew and ignited her own lightsaber. Its purple light and hum felt refreshingly familiar after her fumbles with the other blade. She took her own ready stance and faced off with Drallig, who looked excited to try something real.

This time, when their blades met, Saery did not feel clumsy or awkward. She didn't have to try to mimic anyone else's movement. She was using her own saber the way she was used to, and everything just felt right.

The duel began slow, of course, a few cautious touches as they both established how hard they could safely push. Then it began in earnest, both Masters starting to move around a bit more as they adapted to the tempo of the duel. The younglings scooted back a bit, giving the duel more space; Saery would never have accidentally hit any of them of course, but she appreciated it just the same.

They took advantage of the space they had, traveling back and forth along the front of the room for a few minutes, trading the upper hand back and forth until it was apparent to both of them that there would be no obvious "winner" to their little duel. On an unspoken signal, they backed away from each other and saluted.

"Let's thank Master Dusklight for her demonstration," Master Drallig said, switching back into instructor mode.

The students all stood and bowed to her, and she bowed back, pleased to see that they were impressed. It was less a question of vanity, and more relief that her skills had not somehow been obsolesced by over three thousand years of development. The basics of lightsaber combat still held firm, and she would be able to hold her own in a real fight.

Bowing again to Master Drallig, she took her leave from the training room and set out to resume her wandering exploration of the temple, wondering what would catch her attention next.

* * *

The Council summons came only near the end of the day, not long before sunset would cast its orange glow over the buildings on the horizon. Saery responded promptly, wondering why the Council was meeting so late in the first place.

"Master Dusklight," Master Windu said by way of greeting as she took her place in the center of the room. There was a new addition this time - the seat that had been vacant the day before was now occupied by a young man with brown hair and general air of restlessness. He was perched on the edge of his seat as if he wanted to jump up and throw himself into battle right then and there.

"I heard an interesting report from Master Drallig," Windu said. "He says you visited a lightsaber training course, and offered a demonstration of your skills with a blade."

"I wouldn't say 'offered,'" Saery said, "but Master Drallig and I did duel for a short time, as a demonstration."

"His report claims that you seemed clueless about many of the technical basics of lightsaber work, but given the opportunity to duel freely, you comported yourself with grace and were able to lock blades with him as an equal."

"Thank you, Master," Saery said after a moment, not sure what else there was to say.

"Trust, the Council will extend," Yoda said. "A mission for you, we have."

"A mission?" That wasn't what Saery had expected. More lectures, perhaps, or some sort of test.

"After the death of Count Dooku," the middle-aged man roughly straight ahead said, "the Separatists are left under the command of General Grievous, a cyborg who has been trained in the art of lightsaber combat. We recently received intelligence that he and the other Separatist leaders are gathered on Utapau. You are I are going to... remove him from the equation."

"You're sending me after the leader of the enemy?" Saery asked, even more surprised. "With respect, I don't even fully understand the nature of this conflict yet."

"You don't need to know the politics to fight Grievous," one of the other masters said. "He'll require your full attention as it is."

"Tasked with killing Grievous, Obi-Wan is," Yoda said, gesturing to the man in question. "Insurance and backup, you will be."

"I… understand." And she did, much better now - this was actually just a way to remove her from the Temple for a short while. Presumably, this Master Obi-Wan would keep an eye on her during the mission, and then report back afterwards to tell the Council if he thought she should be trusted for real. It was just a test after all.

Well, with that figured out, it didn't actually matter much. One way or another, she was being asked to set out and complete a mission, and that was a scenario she was well familiar with. She bowed lightly to Obi-Wan. "I will be in your care, Master."

He waved his hand. "I have no doubt you'll pull your own weight in the end." He glanced around at the rest of the council. "We will leave in the morning. Please meet me in the entrance hall by sunrise."

"I will not be late," Saery promised.


	6. Chapter 5

_**Chapter 5** _

_Coruscant - Senate Building_

Shyre had waited long enough.

She wasn't used to doing all her own scouting and information-gathering anymore. As the Wrath - or even just as Baras's apprentice - she'd had a team of people working with and under her who could manage the dreary details, like telling her who was in charge of some operation and getting her in touch with them. It was frustrating to sense, to _know_ , that there was a Sith high up in the Senate offices, but to not be sure how to approach.

So, she eventually decided to just do things her way. Straightforward and to the point - it was certainly better than laying in ineffective surveillance all day. She'd forgotten how boring it was just to watch things.

She simply walked into the Senate building.

There was a fair amount of visible security, including both local officers and Republic soldiers stationed outside and throughout the building. Whatever threats they were trained to look for, however, did not seem to include her. Maybe they assumed she was a Jedi. A laughable idea, but one that seemed to be serving her well.

She had little to go on beyond that same sense of darkness that was beckoning her up. She had no schematics or blueprint for the building, and she had obviously never been there before to learn her way around. She also couldn't afford to spend too long wandering around - assumptions only stretched so far, if the security was at least half as competent as it was well-staffed.

But, since her senses told her to go up, she found a lift and went up, as high as she could go.

She found herself in a moderately small antechamber full of moderately ostentatious art. At the far end, a doorway to an office. She didn't need schematics or blueprints to figure out that she'd found the Chancellor's office. This was undeniably where the source of the darkness was. She stepped forward.

"I was wondering how long it would take you to find your way to me," a voice said. The high-backed chair was turned away from the door, facing the window that served as the entire back wall. The voice was ominous and commanding. It demanded obeisance.

"You are Sith," Shyre said. It was not a question.

The chair spun slowly, revealing an aging human man in fine, stately robes. She recognized him - her day of surveillance had not been _completely_ wasted. He was Chancellor Palpatine, the leader of the Republic.

" _You_ are Sith," Shyre repeated, amazed.

"Yes," Palpatine admitted, drawing out the word like it pleased him to hear it aloud. "And, curiously, so are you. I can sense it - too composed, too refined to be one of Dooku's little pets. You, my dear, have had _real_ instruction."

"I have," Shyre said. Now that she was face to face with the darkness she had sensed from the moment they arrived in the system, she was finding it hard to stay composed. This Palpatine was not the most powerful being she had ever encountered - she had no doubt that Vitiate, her own old Emperor, would wipe the floor with him - but his suffocating, effusive presence made it clear that if she'd had designs on killing and replacing him as the Sith Master in these parts… if that had been her goal today, she would have met only failure.

She knelt down on one knee. "My lord," she said, "I am Darth Shyre. I have come from far away and long ago, the last member of a Sith Empire that, I am told, faded into obscurity thousands of years ago. I was given one simple mission, then placed into a time stasis to await the right moment to emerge." She paused, looking down at the floor.

Palpatine slowly stood from his chair and moved around his impressively large desk until he was standing directly in front of her. "And what was your mission?" he asked.

Shyre swallowed. "I was commanded to wait, and when the time was right, to ensure the fall of the Republic. I was a fractured Empire's last great secret weapon."

There was a long pause as Palpatine considered this. "You certainly took your time. And when you did emerge, you brought a Jedi with you."

Shyre looked up, surprised. "How did you know that?"

"Do you take me for a fool?" Palpatine's voice was now hard. "Did you imagine I was without eyes within the Jedi Temple?"

"I- hadn't thought about it," Shyre admitted. She paused for another moment. "My lord… should I carry out my mission, if the Sith control the Republic after all?"

Palpatine turned away, looking out over the darkening skyline of Coruscant at dusk. "You have appeared at a most curious time," he said. "I sacrifice one apprentice to gain one stronger, but you emerge to sully the waters. Yet my preparations are almost complete."

"My lord," Shyre said, "if you can make use of me, I am yours to command."

"Indeed," Palpatine said slowly. He moved to pick up a comlink from his desk and threw it at her; she caught it without thinking. "Descend to the lower levels and await my order," he said. "When the time comes, I will direct you to a specific warehouse. Kill anyone who enters it."

Shyre clutched the comlink. "As you command, my lord."

"Now begone." With this dismissal, Palpatine returned to his chair and spun away. Shyre slowly stood, then turned and walked quickly out of the office. She thought hard about summoning the lift. She thought hard about navigating the halls of the Senate building. She thought hard about taking a speeder to the lower levels.

Only once she was so deep that it started to feel claustrophobic did she stop feeling like she needed to scrape Palpatine's dark aura off her skin. Only then did she allow her own mind to think the thoughts that had been barred up for all that time.

She did _not_ like Palpatine.

Of course, the Sith were not expected to like their masters - it was rather unusual if one did. But she _really_ did not like Palpatine. He reminded her of Darth Baras, her actual master who had overseen the end of her training, except much _more_. More cunning. More oily. More powerful in near every respect. Baras had nearly assumed control of the Sith Empire by usurping the Emperor's authority and convincing, cowing, or killing those on the Dark Council who protested. Palpatine had, somehow she could not fathom, become _Supreme Chancellor of the Republic._

If that wasn't backwards, she didn't know what possibly could qualify.

In any event… she'd found the dark presence. She'd found what she understood to be the last remaining Sith from the current time period. She had agreed to serve him.

She abandoned her speeder - that made three in two days - and began to walk along whichever "street" she happened to be on. She needed to burn some nervous energy while she thought, and furious walking would at least draw less attention than rampant destruction.

She considered her options. They didn't look great.

First, she could commit herself fully and truly to Palpatine's service. Become his apprentice, through and through. This was distasteful for multiple reasons - first, as already determined, she _did not like him._ It would be a struggle to force herself to be truly loyal to someone whose presence made her skin crawl. Second, and just as important, she was done being an apprentice. She was a Sith Lord, she was a Darth, and that commanded respect - or it should. With so few Sith, there was no one left to command respect from. It was… troubling.

Another option was to break away entirely. Ignore Palpatine's orders, ignore his comlink, and strike her own path through the galaxy. The independence seemed appealing, except - she wasn't sure where she could go. What "own path" could she strike? With no Sith Empire, with the resources of Palpatine probably hunting her down to punish her insolence, with all of her knowledge of the galaxy three millennia out of date, there weren't many places she could turn to.

Her only ally in that scenario would probably be Saery, because only a Jedi would be able to protect her from Palpatine and only Saery would be willing to help a Sith.

She shook her head violently. She did not need protecting! She could manage her own way.

There was still the third option. Play along with what Palpatine wanted, serve him until she found her footing, and then betray him. It was the most Sith thing to do, in all honesty. That meant that he would expect it - but even the strongest master could fall to their apprentice if they got overconfident. She would just have to be patient.

Shyre stopped, and looked up at the rows and rows of speeders zooming by above her. She was not good at being patient. But she could pretend, for a short while. Long enough to reassess her options.

She turned abruptly and started scanning her surroundings for any decrepit or abandoned areas. She would need a place to sit and wait for Palpatine's word.

* * *

_Utapau_

Saery and Obi-Wan Kenobi knelt side-by-side on a catwalk high above the large hangar on Utapau that had been repurposed to serve as the meeting place of Separatist leadership. They were down there at that very moment, discussing something Saery couldn't hear.

"I think it's about time, don't you?" Obi-Wan said.

Saery nodded, though she knew it was more of a rhetorical question. They'd been over the plan several times during the trip to Utapau, and she knew that her part in things, at least to start, was simply to stay quiet and out of the way.

Obi-Wan, meanwhile, was going to do the direct opposite of those things.

He jumped to a lower catwalk, waited a few more moments, then dropped to the floor. "Hello there," he called out jovially.

And so it began. Saery itched to follow him down and join the fight, but she knew that waiting and watching was the right choice if she actually wanted to be helpful further down the line. She had never even seen this Grievous before, while Obi-Wan had fought him in the past. He'd explained what he could of Grievous's style and weaknesses, but charging in blindly was a great risk against an opponent who had demonstrated several times over an ability to defeat unprepared Jedi.

So, she waited, and she watched. She trusted Obi-Wan to do his job, and she trusted the army to do theirs.

The clones…

She still wasn't quite sure how to feel about the clone army. Obi-Wan seemed used to it, and on the trip to Utapau he interacted with several of them as if they were friends. He had apparently been working closely with Commander Cody for a long time.

That was another thing, actually - Obi-Wan was technically a General. Most Jedi who fought in this war served as Generals. Placement of Jedi into the military structure, with an army full of clones… it all bothered her, more than she cared to think about. Especially not right in the middle of a mission.

Down below, Obi-Wan succeeded in removing one of the cyborg's hands, and then a second - out of four, so he was really just leveling the playing field. Saery knew, from those tactical discussions, that Obi-Wan specialized in defensive saber work, and essentially his entire plan was to resist Grievous and keep him busy long enough for the army to rout the rest of the Separatist defenses in the area, and then to corral him and finish him off for good. It was a decent plan, except for how everything could go terribly wrong if Grievous escaped the hangar… which, of course, he was doing right at that moment.

Saery sighed, then stood and began to run along the catwalk towards the outside. The army did seem to be doing their job, so if she was going to be more than useless, she had to keep the duel in sight. Since both Grievous and Obi-Wan went more or less charging off a cliff, she had a lot of uncomfortable jumps and drops in her future.

A few of those later, it was apparent that the pair had detoured back through the inside of the structure built into the cliff. It wasn't difficult to track them - they were barreling through clones and droids alike with no regard for subtlety - but catching up might be an issue, since she was on foot and they were not. She pushed herself to run as fast as she could, making straight for the exit that the two of them had meandered around before charging through.

On the other side of that exit there was a little pocket of outside - another, much smaller hole in the ground next to the larger one. Sinkholes, perhaps; she wasn't particularly familiar with Utapau's geography. All it contained was a small landing pad with a single craft, plus Grievous and Obi-Wan, who seemed to be… brawling. Of all things. Well, that settled it - it was time for the secret weapon to make herself known.

But first…

Charging openly towards the duel would leave her incredibly exposed. Grievous would see her coming, and would either run even further, or find a way to prepare to meet her arrival. There was also a chance that some Separatist could snipe her as she ran, if any were paying attention to this relatively quiet landing pad. It was just a bad idea all around. But she had a few tricks up her sleeve for this kind of thing.

She drew on the Force, took a deep breath, and made herself small. Insignificant. Unnoticeable.

If anyone saw her, they would think nothing of it, and would not remember her.

It wasn't a foolproof technique. It was difficult and draining, and she wasn't sure it would even have any effect on the pure droids of the Separatist army. But Grievous was not a pure droid. He was a cyborg. She had to trust that the Force could have some mental influence over him yet.

She ran forwards, charging through the doorway onto the landing platform. Grievous did not notice her. He was busy throwing Obi-Wan off the platform.

There was nothing she could do to help him, and her instincts told her not to try. She trusted in the Force, and was relieved to spot her fellow Jedi holding on to the edge. He was okay. But he didn't have much time.

She didn't need much. As Grievous stalked forward to where Obi-Wan hung helplessly, Saery ignited her lightsaber, whirled it around, and stabbed the cyborg through the back. For a heartbeat the purple blade protruded out from his chest, before she stepped sideways, spun, and decapitated him with the other blade.

There was a horrid wheezing noise as Grievous's artificial body attempted to compensate for the damage, but it was just too much, and he fell sideways, now just a pile of machinery and - she looked closer - a handful of biological organs. For some reason.

She shook her head, then deactivated her lightsaber and moved to help Obi-Wan back onto the platform.

One he was standing securely, he let out a long breath, and she knew he must be registering the success of their mission. "Thank you for the assist, my friend," he said, clapping her on the shoulder. "Though I have to say, I didn't even see you coming."

"That was the point," Saery said with a small smile. "Neither did he."

"Apparently not." He looked down at Grievous's body, or what counted as one, then all the way up at the sky where the Republic's fleet was in mop-up mode, securing the air and clearing out the last stragglers of Separatists. "It seems we have quite the climb ahead of us, even with Boga's help."

Saery glanced around for Obi-Wan's commandeered mount. "Where is the creature, anyway?"

He whistled, and the large lizard came bounding up from where it had been hiding.

"I will say this about Utapau," Obi-Wan commented. "They train their beasts very well."

Sitting on Boga's back behind him, Saery just sighed. They sure did come when called, but the ride itself was going to be very uncomfortable, especially with all the jumping required.

Still, the battle was won, and with it, the end of the war would be soon at hand. She hadn't seen most of this particular war herself, but an end of hostilities was always cause for celebration.


	7. Chapter 6

_**Chapter 6** _

_Coruscant - Abandoned warehouse_

Shyre waited, and paced. The call from Palpatine had come just an hour or so ago, directing her to this specific old warehouse on level 1315. Not being used to Coruscant, it had taken her a short while to figure out how to navigate to a specific deep-city destination, but here she was.

The warehouse was large and completely empty. Multiple floors, all without any boxes or storage of any kind. One floor did have a hole, though. Maybe that was why it was abandoned. Why repair a floor when you could build a whole new warehouse on top of the old one? _Coruscant._

Palpatine's message hadn't included many more details. She was supposed to wait in this warehouse. Supposedly, someone else would be coming in sooner or later. Shyre's job was to kill this person. Mystery targets were never her favorite, but she'd managed them before. She just wished they would show up already.

As if summoned by her thoughts, the front door to the warehouse slid open and a man stepped in. He looked at her for a moment, then shrugged off his cloak, revealing dark-colored Jedi robes beneath. He seemed to be about her age, with shaggy brown hair and an expression of barely-contained intensity. He ignited his lightsaber, the hiss of the bright blue blade the first sound either of them made.

As she ignited her own lightsaber, Shyre realized that this Jedi was not some hapless victim. He was not surprised to see her, but rather had entered the warehouse specifically to fight her. Given that there was only one other person who should have known she was here…

The Jedi surged forward before she could complete the thought. His first swing went right for her neck; the second tried to bisect her from the top down. Whoever this Jedi was, he seriously meant to kill her. That wasn't exactly standard Jedi procedure, even back when there'd been a whole big war between Jedi and Sith. He was behaving more like one of the countless Sith who underestimated her when she dropped by to pay a visit on the Emperor's orders.

As she warded off his initial attacks, she knew she couldn't afford to fall into a similar kind of complacency. She couldn't afford to assume anything about this man just because he was a Jedi. Better to pretend he was Sith, and fight accordingly.

One very important rule when fighting a Sith - never allow them to keep you on the defensive.

She rotated slightly, and began to move backwards, as if succumbing to his powerful blows. Then, when her positioning was right, she unleashed a hard shove with the Force, sending the Jedi flying through the air towards the wall, and took the opportunity to jump straight up through the hole in the ceiling.

It didn't delay him for long, of course. In just a couple of seconds, he was following her up. He wasn't clueless enough to leave himself unguarded, unfortunately, and he deflected her attack even as he flipped through the air, but it was enough to knock him slightly off balance. Shyre pressed the attack, never letting him find firm footing as she drove him backwards towards the wall. She used the Force to increase the strength of her blows, a technique that had given her the edge in many a battle before - except this time, it only led to the Jedi doing the same.

Maybe some fringe techniques had become somewhat less fringe over the last three thousand years.

No matter. She was Darth Shyre, Emperor's Wrath. She didn't need tricks to win fights. Her opponent jumped back, rebounded off the wall, and sailed over her head to escape the corner - she just turned and continued to push him back. Strength to strength, they were comparable, but she was better. She'd spent years killing. She had to be better.

Ducking under a low swing, she was about to counter when the Force whispered a warning. She jerked backwards, just in time to avoid the sudden crashing entrance of a third party. Another Jedi, this one with two green lightsabers, one a bit shorter than the other - an odd configuration she'd couldn't say she'd encountered before.

The new arrival was a Togruta, an adolescent female, and she stood between Shyre and her quarry with a look of fierce defiance. She raised both sabers in reverse grips, a crossed guard that sent a very clear message to keep away.

"Snips?" The man sounded shocked. "-Ahsoka? What are you doing here? You're supposed to be on Mandalore!"

"Apparently not, Master," the young woman replied grimly. She eyed Shyre up and down. "Who even is she?"

"Another Sith," the man said with disgust. "The Chancellor tipped me off about her."

"And did you think to wonder," Shyre interrupted, "how the Chancellor would know?" She spun her lightsaber lazily as she put the pieces together. She'd ignored Palpatine's talk about already lining up his next apprentice. She shouldn't have. She had a strong suspicion she was looking at him, whether he even realized it or not.

She held off on revealing Palpatine's true Sith allegiance; it would be a powerful bombshell and distraction, but only if he didn't already know, and it was not yet the time for gambles.

"I would have offered my name," she said, "had you bothered to ask."

The man scowled, but the girl tightened her grip on her lightsabers and said, "Okay, who are you, then?"

"I am Darth Shyre," Shyre stated simply. "I am a Sith. A true Sith, not some angry backworld Force-user or Jedi gone Dark."

"You're from the time stasis," the man blurted out, and Shyre lost the thread of her boasting in surprise. Was the Jedi Council truly spreading that information around? Or maybe it was Saery's doing...

"The what?" the younger Jedi asked, glancing back at him uncertainly.

"She's from over three thousand years ago," the man explained hastily. "She showed up the other day, along with a Jedi. I should have realized before!" Then something in his eyes shifted, and he looked at Shyre more as prey than as an enemy. "Ahsoka," he said quietly. "We need to try to capture her."

"I'm ready," the girl said, and then the two of them sprung forward together, spreading out then closing in, a simple attempt to flank her. It wouldn't be that easy - she turned to the girl and attacked savagely, the Togruta's adolescent form simply not able to match her Force-imbued strength. The girl was nimble, though, and jumped away as soon as she could - which was what Shyre wanted, since it gave her the opportunity to maneuver to a more advantageous position.

She had a few seconds to lock her blades with the older Jedi before the girl showed up again and forced her to split her attention. The two of them worked together well, falling into an easy rhythm of fighting side-by-side. Shyre was forced to stay on her toes to defend against the both of them, and she did not like it.

The warehouse was cramped and limiting. She decided to take the fight outside. Conveniently, there was already a hole in the wall, courtesy of the girl's dramatic entrance. Breaking off from the fight, she jumped through, and found herself falling a couple dozen feet. Quickly using the Force to slow her fall, she landed, rolled, and turned to see that both Jedi had followed without hesitation.

They were on a street now, and the handful of civilians in the area rapidly made themselves scarce when they saw all the lightsabers.

As the fight resumed, she considered her options. Her mission, officially, was to kill the both of them. The two of them combined were good enough that she was not likely to land any killing blows mid-fight; she would have to work on neutralizing one or both and then proceed from there. They were trying to do the same to her, of course, but she wasn't too concerned.

Of the two Jedi, the young Togruta was clearly the weaker link. She was talented, to be sure, but not so talented that she would stand a chance without her master to step in when her defenses faltered. All Shyre needed was a moment, just one moment where she over-extended…

There. After leaning back to avoid a horizontal swing with both lightsabers, Shyre snapped her own saber out at the girl's hands. The girl's reflexes were good, and she tried to pull back - she saved her hands, but both of her green blades died instantly as she was left with the smoking remains of their destroyed hilts.

The girl froze in shock for just a split second, but it was long enough for Shyre to line up a finishing blow.

But before she could take the girl's life, she was knocked sideways by a hard shove of the Force. The older Jedi had one hand stretched out towards her, and he looked utterly furious. Shyre refocused to meet him, but the Jedi was fueling his strength with fear and rage now, and she was not prepared for his sudden surge of aggression.

Even as she tried to match him blow for blow, one of his strikes slipped past her guard and clipped her across the thigh. Hissing in pain, she rolled back and steadied herself with her good leg as she tried to assess the injury. The Jedi's eyes were drilling holes through her, his stare was so intense, but he seemed content to give her a moment to recover. Strange.

More importantly, she did still have her leg. That was good. Her armor had done its job - it wasn't anything fancy enough to protect her from lightsabers completely, but it had deflected enough of the brunt of the blow that only a relatively small cut had gone through. Not much more than a graze. She would need medical attention, but she still technically had the use of all four limbs.

"Your lightsaber," the Jedi demanded. "And a few answers."

She could have stood to continue the fight. But, with an injured leg, she would be at a severe disadvantage. She wasn't sure that she would win anymore.

She deactivated her lightsaber and placed it on the ground in front of her. He summoned it with the Force and handed it off to the Togruta girl. She ignited it, though even with the orange-black blade she looked more scared than menacing.

"What were you doing in that warehouse?" the Jedi asked.

"I had very specific instructions," Shyre said dryly. "I was ordered to wait in the warehouse and kill whoever showed up."

She could tell that this threw the Jedi slightly. "Who gave you an order like that?"

"I believe you know him," Shyre told him. "The Sith Lord who stands at the top of all this intrigue? Who controls the Republic with the Jedi none the wiser?"

He stepped forward angrily, and held his blue lightsaber threateningly close to her neck. "You know who he is?" he said, near-shouting. "Tell me!"

"I believe you know him," Shyre said, repeating her previous inflection exactly. "Something of a mentor figure? Someone with supreme political power? Probably he's hinted recently at sharing a few _secrets_."

The Jedi's face was almost entertaining to watch. "No," he whispered, and then shouted- " _No!_ " He drew back his lightsaber, and Shyre tensed, prepared to dodge, and then -

A pulse through the Force, from high above. An urgent summons. She found herself staring up in the direction of its origin, as if she could see the Senate Building from the undercity. The Jedi, she realized, was doing the exact same thing.

The younger Jedi was not, but she certainly noticed their odd behavior. "What it is?" she asked. "What's wrong?"

Shyre turned back to observe the older Jedi. She watched in fascination as realization sunk into his bones. He knew what he had to do. He made his choice.

"You finish up here," he said to the girl, and then he was running away, using the Force to rush down the street to the closest speeder, which he claimed for his own use without a second thought. He went rocketing away up to the top levels of Coruscant, and left silence behind him.

After a few long, tense seconds, the Togruta girl pointed Shyre's own lightsaber at her. "I still have questions of my own," she said, somewhat shakily.

"Yes," Shyre said, "I imagine you do."

Another long pause. Then the girl said, "Are you really over three thousand years old?"

Shyre's lips twitched in the vague direction of a grin. "From a certain perspective. I walked into a cave long, long ago, then walked out just a few days ago. Very little time passed for me."

Shyre could tell that the girl was torn between intellectual curiosity and more pressing matters. "Why were you _really_ in the warehouse?" she eventually asked.

"I told you," Shyre said. "I was ordered to wait there and kill whoever arrived. That really is the whole reason." She thought back to the young Jedi's sudden arrival through a wall. "Why were _you_ in the warehouse?"

"I- had a vision," the Togruta answered. "I knew I had to come back to Coruscant immediately. I knew Anakin was in danger."

"Anakin?" Shyre thought the name sounded familiar, for some reason.

"You were trying to kill him and you don't even know his name?" The Jedi was surprised enough to lower the lightsaber a bit.

"Do I have to repeat myself a third time?" Shyre said flatly. "He entered the warehouse. Therefore, my orders were to kill him."

"But you didn't."

"No," Shyre agreed. "I did not." And now that she had time to reflect, that probably spelled the end of her short association with Palpatine. She had failed in her mission - she had been injured and lost the fight. Unless she was very mistaken, the whole thing had been set up by the Sith Lord as a way to pit his two potential apprentices against one another, so he could claim the victor. It was the sort of thing Darth Baras would do. Shyre had lost, so he would have no further use for her.

Ah, right, that's where she'd heard the name Anakin before. "He killed the previous apprentice," she said.

"What?" The Jedi - what was _her_ name? He'd mentioned it - sounded confused.

"This Anakin," Shyre said, "killed the previous Sith apprentice. Count Something." How many names could she be expected to remember after hearing them once?

Ahsoka, that was it.

"Anakin killed Dooku? ...I hadn't heard."

"According to the Jedi Council, yes."

"When did _you_ talk to the Council?"

Instead of answering, Shyre said, "I'm going to test my leg." She pushed up from her kneeling position and slowly put weight on her injured side. It hurt - a _lot_ \- especially now that the adrenaline and exhilaration of battle were wearing off, but it could support her for maybe a second at a time. Long enough for an awkward, ungainly limp. "It will do."

In response to Shyre's movement, Ashoka lifted the orange-black saber again and held it at the ready.

"Tell me, Jedi," Shyre said, "what exactly do you intend to do with me?"

"I'm not a Jedi," the Togruta answered.

Shyre paused, and gave her a long, obvious look. "You look like a Jedi to me."

"I'm not," she insisted. "I'm no longer part of the order. I wouldn't be on Coruscant at all except for my vision."

"This sounds like a fascinating story," Shyre said, "but I'm afraid we have other-"

She broke off because of a rising wave of… death… in the Force. Sorrow, panic, and death. Darkness.

She swayed, and her bad leg collapsed, dumping her back down on the street. She had never experienced anything like this… but she might have read about something similar. And if so, she knew what was causing it.

A lot of Jedi were dying. Unfathomable numbers, all at once.

In front of her, Ahsoka was clutching her chest. "Wh- What's happening?" she asked.

She wasn't sure how to respond.

As a Sith, she should have been happy about Jedi dying.

As a Sith, she should have felt victorious.

As a Sith, this should have been her final vindication, three and a half thousand years in the making.

Instead, she felt sick.


	8. Chapter 7

_**Chapter 7** _

_Utapau_

As Obi-Wan and Saery approached the hangar where the battle had begun, she saw that the fight was not as close to won as she had thought. While the hangar itself was secure, there were still countless droids on other levels that still posed a threat. The death of Grievous had not compelled them to surrender - if they were even aware. If they were even programmed to be capable.

"Cody!" Obi-Wan called as Boga brought them to beside the clone commander. "Contact your troops. Tell them to move to the higher levels."

"Very good, sir," Commander Cody said, then seemed to remember something. "By the way - I think you'll be needing this." He held up a lightsaber.

Obi-Wan took it ruefully. "Thank you, Cody. Now, let's get a move on! We've got a battle to win, here."

"Yes, sir!" Cody saluted as Obi-Wan directed Boga away from the clones. They would take advantage of the lizard's maneuverability to make their way up along the side of the sinkhole.

"You dropped your lightsaber?" Saery asked as Boga jumped.

"During the chase," Obi-Wan confirmed with a sigh. "You must never tell Anakin, or I'll never hear the end of it."

Saery was about to say that she didn't even know who Anakin was when the Force screamed a warning at her. She twisted awkwardly in the saddle just in time to see a laser turret - a _Republic_ turret - fire on their position. Fortunately, their arm was slightly off; rather than vaporizing them into dust, the blast impacted right next to Boga, knocking the poor lizard clear off the wall, and sending all three of them tumbling down through the air.

It was a very long fall, which of course was rather deadly, but it also gave Saery time to recover from her shock and focus on surviving it. Spotting water at the bottom, she used the Force to slow her descent and soften her impact, and had just enough time to steel herself before she hit.

Even with all her tricks, hitting the water stunned her. Her body plunged deep under the surface, and all she could feel was the cold and the pressure. Over the next few seconds, pain began to blossom, as her body began to realize how badly it had been bruised. She managed to recover enough to remember how to swim, and began to position herself to push back up to the surface.

But a hand grabbed her arm. Obi-Wan was beside her, and he had something in his mouth - some sort of pocket-sized rebreather that must have been developed more recently than three and a half thousand years ago. It sure would have been convenient to have one of those, she thought dimly.

Obi-Wan began to tug her deeper into the water. He must have known something she did not. Rather than resist, she tried to clear her mind and meditate. If she was going to survive being trapped underwater for an extended period, her best option was to slow her metabolism and use as little oxygen as possible.

Hoping it wasn't already too late, she pushed away the cold and the pain and allowed her mind to slip away, consigning her fate into Obi-Wan's hands.

* * *

She came up for air, quite literally, and began to cough.

Obi-Wan hushed her urgently, but it took time to recover from nearly drowning. "How long-"

"About a minute," he whispered. "You should be fine."

"Thank you," she said. When her breathing was steady, she continued, "Why did your soldiers shoot us?"

"I don't know," Obi-Wan answered seriously. "But it was no accident. They are hunting us down even now."

As if to demonstrate, a Republic seeker drone drifted into view at the far side of… wherever they were. Some sort of cave structure half under the water. Saery and Obi-Wan both held their breath and tried not to move more than necessary to stay afloat, and luckily, the drone drifted off again in another direction.

"Do you have a plan?" Saery whispered.

"Grievous's ship," Obi-Wan said. "It's a one-man shuttle but I think we can squeeze the both of us in, given the emergency. We're both smaller the Grievous." He took a deep breath. "However, getting there will require sneaking past an army."

"That's the easy part," Saery said.

"Really." Obi-Wan sounded dubious.

"Really," Saery said. "I snuck up on Grievous, didn't I? As long as we don't get too close or do anything too blatant, I can keep them from spotting us."

"I guess we'll see," Obi-Wan said, then raised his rebreather. "You'd best hold your breath. We need to do a bit more swimming before we can get anywhere."

Begrudgingly, Saery took a deep breath, then followed her fellow Jedi under the surface to find a way out of the caves.

* * *

_Deep Space - Tantive III_

Saery pulled herself out of Grievous's shuttle and dropped to the floor of the hangar with a groan. The plan had gone exactly as Obi-Wan had hoped; with a little subterfuge and stealth the two of them had managed to sneak through the clone army back to the landing platform where Grievous's cyborg body still lay. The cockpit had indeed been designed for a solo pilot, but they had indeed managed to squeeze in together. But it had not been anywhere in the vicinity of comfortable, especially with her body hurting all over from the hard landing in the water.

Obi-Wan had sent out a distress call as they left the planet, and it had been picked up by some senator; Obi-Wan seemed to trust him, and that was good enough for her. They were on his ship now, along with Master Yoda.

"How many other Jedi have managed to survive?" Obi-Wan asked the small green master. Saery trailed behind them in the hallway; as a recent arrival to the time period, knowing very little about the clones or whatever else was going on, she felt it was not her place to intrude on the discussion.

"Heard from no one have we," Yoda answered grimly.

"I saw thousands of troops attack the Jedi Temple," the senator, Bail Organa, said. "That's why I went looking for Yoda."

"Have we had any contact from the Temple?" Obi-Wan asked.

"Received a coded retreat message, we have," Yoda said.

"It requests all Jedi to return to the Temple," Bail explained. "It says the war is over."

"Well then we must go back," Obi-Wan said, stopping in the hallway. "If there are any stragglers, they will fall into the trap and be killed."

"Suggest dismantling the coded signal, do you?" Yoda said.

"Yes, Master," Obi-Wan replied. "There is too much at stake."

Saery cleared her throat softly. "If I may, masters," she said. "If the Temple is being guarded by hostile clones, I believe I have the best chance to infiltrate safely." She glanced at Obi-Wan. "Master Kenobi can attest to my talents toward… obfuscation."

"No, Master Dusklight," Yoda said, turning to look at her. "A different task, you must complete." He hummed a bit in thought. "Your Sith friend - seen her recently, have you?"

"I wouldn't call her my friend," Saery said, surprised. "And no, I haven't seen her since she left the Temple." She paused for an uncomfortable moment. "You think she has something to do with this?"

"For clones to storm the Temple alone, difficult it would be," Yoda said. "But for a powerful Sith, many terrible things, possible would they be."

"What's this?" Bail asked, apparently not in the loop about Shyre.

"Do you think you could track her down?" Obi-Wan asked Saery, ignoring the senator for the moment.

"I… believe so, yes," Saery said. "If she hasn't left Coruscant. I don't believe she ever bothers to mask her presence in the Force."

"A plan you have, Obi-Wan?" Yoda asked.

"Not really a plan," Obi-Wan said. "While you and I break into the Temple to shut down the signal, Master Dusklight can work from the opposite end and find Darth Shyre. Maybe she'll talk to a more familiar face."

"I'll find her," Saery promised. "And if she _was_ responsible for the attack on the Temple…" She sighed grimly, knowing she would have no choice but to bring her sole contemporary to justice.

"Back to Coruscant, then," Bail said, and at the confirming nods of the assembled Jedi, he went to make it so.

* * *

_Coruscant - Undercity_

"This would be easier," Shyre said, not for the first time, "if I had my lightsaber."

"Not happening," Ahsoka said, also not for the first time. She glanced around a corner, then quickly ducked back. "More of them. Four or five."

"You know I could take it back by force," Shyre said. She was leaning against the outside of the building, keeping weight off her injured leg.

"I'm sure you could," the Togruta said agreeably. "But it would draw attention and that wouldn't be good for either of us, would it?"

"I can handle a few soldiers," Shyre said.

Ahsoka was busy eyeing the walkways above the street. "Why am I helping you, again?" she asked rhetorically, then jumped up to a footbridge that ran over their heads.

"An excellent question," Shyre muttered. To be honest, she didn't know the answer herself. After that wave of death and despair in the Force had subsided, the young Jedi - who still maintained she was not a Jedi - had tried to take her into the Temple. That had not gone as planned, to say the least, and now they were on the run from the Republic's own troops.

And Ahsoka still carried Shyre's lightsaber, leaving the Sith hurt and defenseless. Or, well, she tried to appear so. Pity was distasteful but it was better than being dead.

She jumped up to follow Ahsoka, grabbing the edge of the walkway and hauling herself up, taking care not to overexert her injured leg. She followed the Jedi along the narrow path, right over the heads of the soldiers who were trying to search the street below. At the far end, Ahsoka jumped up again another level, and cut across to the left as Shyre followed.

This was the main advantage of keeping the peace with the adolescent Jedi. Ahsoka knew Coruscant, while Shyre did not. Ahsoka knew where the soldiers were likely to gather, which routes to avoid, and what shortcuts to take to get to… wherever they were going.

The Togruta had refused to discuss that part. Since it was all the same to Shyre, she hadn't pressed the point.

"Wait," Ahsoka said suddenly. She was peering down at a doorway on whatever street they were over now. There was another group of four soldiers on this street. "We're going to have to fight to get in there, I think," she said.

Shyre took another glance at the group below. "Not a problem," she said. "Will you tell me where we're going yet, or is my surprise worth that much to you?"

"It's a medical clinic," Ahsoka answered shortly. "So we can tend to your leg, and hole up for a while until this all blows over."

Shyre paused. She hadn't been expecting that. She also wasn't dumb enough to argue. "You can handle those four, I trust?"

"Yes," Ahsoka said. She gripped Shyre's lightsaber and dropped down. To Shyre's disappointment, she did _not_ immediately go on the offensive the way the Sith would have. Instead, she walked carefully to the doorway, trying to appear nonchalant.

If the soldiers even said anything, Shyre did not hear it. The moment they spotted the Togruta, they formed up, lifted their blasters, and began to fire.

Ahsoka was quick to protect herself with her borrowed lightsaber, but seemed hesitant about actually hurting the soldiers. She managed to destroy two of the blaster rifles, but the men just drew smaller sidearms and continued trying to take the Jedi down.

Shyre grumbled to herself, then dove off the walkway. She flipped through the air, then landed right in the middle of the fight in a hard three-point landing that carried with it a shockwave in the Force. The soldiers were all slammed to the ground, and fell still.

Unfortunately, the hard landing also made Shyre's thigh flare up in pain again. Hissing, she pushed herself up on her good leg, and drew on that pain to help steady herself. "This is a clinic, you said?" she asked without looking back, then barged forward through the doorway.

Inside she found no living attendants or doctors, just droids. She turned to see Ahsoka hurrying to follow. "It's not much," the Jedi said, "but it'll have some bacta at least."

"Bacta?" Shyre repeated, but had to wait as the Togruta spoke quietly to one of the droids, asking for medical supplies. She contented herself with limping over to one of the two beds in the clinic and sitting down, easing the stress on her hurt thigh. Then she found the little pressure releases on her armor, and removed the damaged panel, to better treat the wound beneath.

Done with the droid, Ahsoka approached and crossed her arms over her chest. "Bacta. To heal your leg."

One of the droids came trundling up with a tray. Ahsoka took it, thanked the droid, and placed the tray on the bed next to Shyre. There was a bottle with some viscous liquid, some bandages, and a small knife.

"Oh," Shyre said. "Like kolto." She looked up at the ceiling. "Three and a half thousand years of medical development, and you give me the same old goo with a _different name._ "

"Bacta isn't the same as kolto," Ahsoka said, "but that is so not the discussion we're going to have right now." She poured some of the liquid onto her fingers, then began to apply it to the lightsaber burn on Shyre's thigh.

Shyre quickly grabbed the Jedi's wrist, stopping her. "I can do that myself," she said through gritted teeth.

Ahsoka shrugged, and switched to preparing the bandages.

"Tell me something," the Togruta said as she worked.

"Always with the questions, you Jedi," Shyre said, mostly to distract herself from the task of rubbing Bacta onto her charred flesh.

Ahsoka gave her a look, then said, "Earlier, with Anakin… what was all that about his mentor? Who told you to be in that warehouse?"

Shyre examined her for a moment, then said simply, "Chancellor Palpatine. He is a Sith Lord. I am surprised none of you Jedi can sense him."

Ahsoka paused to stare at her incredulously. "The Chancellor? No, that can't be right."

"Whether you believe it is immaterial," Shyre said. "Are the bandages prepared?"

Ahsoka handed them over silently.

"The Chancellor is Sith," Shyre repeated, "and a powerful one. If he had lived in my time, he would surely have a seat on the Dark Council." She reflected for a moment. "Or, he would be dead, for attempting to grasp at power beyond his station." Of course, it would have been her, as the Wrath, who would have carried out that murder…

She covered her wound with a bacta-soaked bandage, then used the rest of the cloth to securely wrap the whole area. She could feel the medical gel already working its magic, surprisingly enough, and though it itched terribly the pain had already dulled considerably. Maybe bacta really was different from kolto.

"We need a safe house," she said when she was done. "Somewhere the soldiers won't look, or won't look too carefully. This clinic might have sufficed, like you originally suggested, except for the four troopers lying on the street outside the front door."

Ahsoka fell silent for a few seconds as she considered their options. "I almost hate to suggest it," she said slowly, "but our favorite warehouse would serve perfectly."


	9. Chapter 8

_**Chapter 8** _

_Coruscant - Undercity_

Saery stood in the middle of the Coruscant undercity street and stared up at the hole in the wall of the building in front of her. There were few citizens walking about at this time of day - it was not long past dawn in local time - but there were still a small number of clones making periodic sweeps through the area, like they suspected there were targets they hadn't found yet.

If things were proceeding according to plan, then Obi-Wan and Yoda were making their way into the Jedi Temple at that very moment. The senator, Bail, was meanwhile in a "special session" of the Senate. And Saery was here, creeping through Coruscant, tracking down Shyre through the Force.

It had been even easier than she'd expected. After arriving on Coruscant proper, before even leaving Bail's corvette, she'd taken the time to meditate and reflect on her memory of Shyre's presence. It turned out that after just a bit of focus, Shyre lit up like a torch in the darkness among the sea of souls on the metropolis world. She wasn't sure if it was something inherent about Shyre, or some consequence of spending over three thousand years stuck in a cave together, but she had a feeling that she wouldn't ever have much trouble finding the Sith Lord if she really wanted to.

She wondered if it was the same in the other direction, too.

Tracking Shyre's presence in the Force had led her to this building - the one with the hole in the wall. There was someone else in the building as well, a Jedi by the feel of things, and Saery could only hope she wasn't about to walk into the middle of a duel.

She decided to use the actual door, so as to not draw extra attention. It was locked, but a quick wave of her hand took care of that. She took a step in - and then immediately stopped, mostly because of the orange-black lightsaber barring her path.

Turning carefully, she was surprised to see that it was not Shyre standing there, though it was definitely Shyre's lightsaber. Instead, it was a young Togruta woman, probably no older than her late teens, but wearing an expression that betrayed a hardness that came from war.

"You can relax." It was Shyre's voice, coming from the shadows deeper into the room. "She won't hurt you."

Still watching the Togruta girl, Saery called out, "Are you talking to me or to her?"

"Both." Shyre finally came into view, striding up casually and activating a ceiling light with a small gesture of the Force.

The girl deactivated Shyre's lightsaber and put it on her belt, then bowed cautiously. "Ahsoka Tano," she said.

"Saery Dusklight," Saery responded politely. "I have to admit, when I sensed the two of you in here, I didn't truly expect it to be so… calm." She examined Ahsoka carefully, noting that she was not exactly wearing standard Jedi robes. "I accidentally got caught in a time stasis with Shyre," she said bluntly. "How did _you_ get mixed up with her?"

The girl was silent for a long moment. Then she said, "She tried to kill my former master."

Saery processed this. "Only tried?" Turning to the Sith Lord, she said, "You're losing your touch."

"The day is young yet," Shyre replied. "Now, is there a reason you went through the trouble of finding me?"

"Not much trouble, believe me," Saery said. "But yes." She carefully met Shyre's eyes, as they stared out at her from under her hood, which was up even now. "Were you at all involved in the attack on the Jedi Temple?"

"I was not," Shyre said plainly. "At the time I was busy having just recently failed to kill her master, as previously mentioned."

"It's true," Ahsoka confirmed. "I tried to bring her to the Temple later, and we discovered that the clones had occupied it." Her voice sounded shaky. "Do you know what happened?"

"Not as well as I'd like," Saery admitted. "I was on Utapau with Master Kenobi; his soldiers went from conversing normally one minute to trying to kill us the next. We managed to escape, and met up with Master Yoda and a senator named Bail Organa." She took a deep breath. "From the sound of things, at the same moment all across the galaxy, all of the Republic's clone troopers turned on and murdered the Jedi. Thousands of troops also attacked the Temple, and as far as we know, killed everyone inside."

"That's horrible," Ahsoka whispered. Then she seemed to rally a bit. "You said Master Obi-Wan and Master Yoda are alive? Where are they now?"

"At the Temple," Saery said. "There's a trap they need to dismantle. And Master Yoda believes the clones who attacked the Temple had help, but… other than Shyre, I can't think of who could have done so."

Ahsoka's face clouded over. "I would say that I couldn't imagine a Jedi betraying their own," she said bitterly, "but that would be a lie."

Shyre crossed her arms. "What's your plan now?" she asked. "I hope it involves action. I've spent too long cooped up in hiding."

"I'm surprised you spent any time at all," Saery told her. "And, we'll have to see. Our next action will depend largely on what Obi-Wan and Yoda find in the Temple, I expect." She looked at Shyre for a moment longer, then said, "Will you be working with us, then? Or striking off on your own again at the first opportunity?"

"We'll have to see," Shyre echoed back at her.

Sighing, Saery turned away and pulled out her comlink. It was time to see if the others were contactable.

* * *

When Obi-Wan arrived at the warehouse, it didn't take the Force to see that he carried bad news with him. He entered slowly, nodding shallowly at Saery, barely glancing at Shyre, and then stopping in his tracks when he saw Ahsoka.

"Ahsoka?" he said. "I'm so glad to see you've survived - but weren't you on Mandalore?"

"Until recently, Master, yes," Ahsoka responded, giving Obi-Wan a small bow. "The plan to draw out Maul was nearly complete. Even without me, Captain Rex should have launched the attack by now." She looked down guiltily. "I came back to Coruscant because of a vision… I felt bad for abandoning the siege, but, with all that's happened, I can't help but believe that it saved my life. If Rex had turned on me, I don't think I could have escaped."

"Then it is truly the will of the Force that you are here, Ahsoka," Obi-Wan told her. Then, his face fell. "It only makes what I am about to say that much harder, however."

"What did you find at the Temple?" Saery asked him. "Did you manage to dismantle the trap?"

"Yes, that part went smoothly enough," Obi-Wan said. "I altered the signal, so that now it is warning Jedi away." He looked at Shyre again for a moment, then back to Saery. "And your side of things?"

"Shyre was not involved," Saery told him. "Ahsoka has been with her since before it happened."

Obligingly, Ahsoka nodded to confirm this.

"Indeed," Obi-Wan said, as he gathered his thoughts. Then he said, "When Master Yoda and I entered the Temple, we discovered evidence of what we had feared - several of the Jedi inside the Temple were killed not by blaster fire, but by a lightsaber." He took a deep breath. "On our way out, after dismantling the trap, I decided to view the security hologram, to help determine the identity of the attacker. I confess that at that point I assumed it would be Darth Shyre."

"Understandable," Shyre herself said during the small pause that followed. "If I came across a building full of slaughtered Jedi, I too would assume a Sith was responsible."

Obi-Wan grimaced. "In a way, one was, but…" He glanced helplessly at Ahsoka. "It was Anakin."

"What do you mean?" Ahsoka demanded immediately. "What was Anakin?"

"On the security hologram, I saw Anakin fight and kill several Jedi within the Temple," Obi-Wan said, his voice strained, "including… including younglings."

"Anakin wouldn't do that," Ahsoka protested.

"That makes sense," Shyre said, almost at the same time.

Everyone turned to stare at her.

"This 'Anakin' is your former master, right?" she said to Ahsoka. "The one you came all this way to protect?"

"Yes," the Togruta said, somewhat uncertainly.

"Remember what we were just talking about," Shyre asked her, "back at the clinic? When this Anakin abandoned our duel so suddenly, where do you think he was going?" Ahsoka's face tightened in stubborn disbelief, so Shyre continued. "He was summoned - through the Dark Side of the Force. Summoned by a Sith Lord."

"Palpatine is that Sith Lord," Obi-Wan said with weariness and disgust. "He has been manipulating everything since before the start of the war. And he has claimed Anakin as his new apprentice." He scrubbed his face with his hands. "And Anakin has thrown himself wholeheartedly into the Dark Side, starting with his attack on the Temple."

"I can't believe it," Ahsoka said in the manner of one who could believe it, but really didn't want to.

"Meanwhile," Obi-Wan said, "Palpatine has taken the opportunity to 'reorganize' the Republic into what he calls the Galactic Empire. We have reached the end of the game," he said grimly, "and if we are to survive, we have but one more play to make."

He was interrupted by Shyre's low chuckle.

"Pardon me," Obi-Wan said. "Did you have something else to add?"

"Only that I have to admit I'm impressed," Shyre said. "The Sith Empire tried to conquer the Republic and failed, and has apparently disappeared into the ravages of time while the Republic continued to stand. But in the end, we had our revenge after all. The Republic has fallen, and I alone among my fellows get to see it." She shook her head. "And I was beginning to wonder if the cave had malfunctioned somehow."

"What do you mean?" Saery asked, but was ignored. Obi-Wan walked right up to Shyre and looked her in the eyes.

"Where do your loyalties lie, my lady?" he asked softly. "With Palpatine and the Sith, or with yourself and your survival? Because I assure you, at this moment, the two are not compatible."

Shyre crossed her arms over her chest. "Palpatine may be a Sith," she said, "but he is not my master. He may call this his Empire, but he is not _my_ Emperor. If you mean to strike out against him, then I have no quarrel with you."

It seemed apparent to Saery - and so probably to the others as well - that Shyre was leaving something out, but for better or worse Saery did believe her.

Obi-Wan seemed to as well, at least enough to nod slightly and back away. "Master Yoda will be… confronting… the Emperor himself," he said. "My job is to track down Anakin and… settle the matter, once and for all."

"Where is he?" Ahsoka asked.

"Not on Coruscant," Obi-Wan answered, "but beyond that, I do not know." He turned to the adolescent Togruta. "If you had to track him down as quickly as possible, where would you go? Who would you ask?"

"Ah-" Ahsoka seemed to retreat a bit. "I can't go to the Council, or to Rex…"

"If you think of any promising leads, let me know," Obi-Wan said. "In the meantime, I believe I shall pay a visit to his favorite senator."

Realization blossomed across Ahsoka's face. "Padmé," she breathed.

* * *

"Explain what we're doing here," Shyre said. She, Ahsoka, and Saery were standing on a free-floating landing pad in a fancy residential district, waiting for Obi-Wan to return from his meeting with the senator, Padmé Amidala. The landing pad was already occupied by a sleek, chrome-plated ship that presumably belonged to someone who lived in the area.

"Anakin has always been particularly close with Senator Amidala," Ahsoka said. "He never talked about his childhood much, but… he grew up as a slave on Tatooine. The Senator played some role in rescuing him from that, I think." She paced a bit. "She wouldn't have been a senator yet, though. Like I said, I don't really know the details."

"Master Obi-Wan seems to believe she'll know where he is," Saery commented. Most of her attention was spent worrying about standing out in the open. Even putting aside any surveillance droids that might be sweeping the area, there was always the possibility of curious onlookers spotting what they thought was three Jedi standing around. Even Saery's skills at Force-assisted stealth couldn't protect them from thousands of potential eyes catching a glimpse.

"I don't know," Ahsoka said doubtfully. "If he did turn to the Dark Side, why would he tell her? I can't believe she would go along with that." Then she spotted Obi-Wan's shuttle on its way back to the platform. "I guess we'll see soon enough."

When Obi-Wan landed, he popped the hatch and hopped out without even shutting the vehicle down. "As I expected," he said quickly, "Anakin paid her a visit before leaving the system. She knows where he is, but refused to say."

Saery could sense that he had a plan. "What's our next move?" she asked.

"She's worried about him," Obi-Wan said. "If I know her well enough, she'll take action herself. I expect her to visit him shortly, to see if what I told her is true."

"You mean to track her?" Shyre asked.

Obi-Wan turned to Saery. "Master Dusklight," he said. "You've demonstrated your skills in avoiding detection. Do you believe you could hide a group of four stowaways on the Senator's personal starship?"

"One or two would be trivial," Saery answered. "Four… if she's distracted and unfocused, yes."

"Good," Obi-Wan said. "Then I suggest we get ready, because she should be here soon." He turned and gestured, using the Force to trigger his shuttle's autopilot controls. It lifted itself away and flew off into the mess of Coruscant speeder traffic.

"This is her ship?" Saery asked, looking at the silver vessel next to them.

"Of course," Ahsoka said, sounding upset with herself. "I should have recognized it."

Examining the landing platform, Saery said, "It would be best to gather under the ship itself. When the hatch opens, we should be obscured, and can follow her and any crew on board." She looked over the others sternly. "I will do my best to prevent them from noticing us, but I am not infallible. You must still be quiet and stealthy. I will make it _possible_ to sneak four people on board, but I cannot make it _easy_."

Obi-Wan nodded seriously. "Then we had best get into position."

The four of them - two Jedi, one "not a Jedi," and one Sith - huddled under the hull of the chrome starship and waited. It ended up being about ten or fifteen minutes before another shuttle came by and landed on the platform.

Saery focused on using the Force to dampen all of her companions' shifts and shuffles. The new shuttle had three occupants - a man, a woman, and a droid - and it wasn't too taxing to hide from them, as long as the droid didn't specialize in threat detection or anything.

From the sound of things, the man wanted to accompany the woman on her trip. The woman, who was clearly the senator, Padmé Amidala, demurred, and took only the droid on board. Saery gave the others the signal, and the four of them emerged from behind the ramp and jumped on board even as the hatch was closing.

She held a finger to her lips, conveying the continued need for silence, as Obi-Wan opened a small door into a closet. It was just big enough for the four of them to cram in. When the door closed, Saery was squeezed between Obi-Wan and the wall, and she was knocking knees with Ahsoka, who was similarly stuck next to Shyre.

"You couldn't have found someplace-" Shyre began to complain, but Saery hushed her harshly, and the Sith saw the wisdom in not arguing.

Ultimately, Saery couldn't be sure how long the ship spent in hyperspace, because she fell into a half-meditative, mostly-oblivious state of thinking about nothing but maintaining their awkward hiding place. It was possible that she was superfluous - that the senator, distracted by thoughts of Anakin, would never have noticed them regardless - but she'd learned early in her career that it was much preferred to hide too well than to hide not well enough.

When she recovered her full senses, it was because Ahsoka was shaking her shoulder. Obi-Wan and Shyre had both left the small closet already.

From the sound of the booming, stern voices outside the ship, Obi-Wan was confronting Anakin. Shyre was nowhere to be seen.

"It's Padmé," Ahsoka said when Saery brushed her hand from her shoulder. "I think- I think Anakin hurt her."

Saery nodded, then quickly climbed out of the closet. She paused at the top of the ramp in time to see the ignition of lightsabers - and the start of direct combat between Obi-Wan and the man who must be Anakin.

She'd seen him before, Saery realized. He was the new addition to the Council the second time she'd stood before them, the young man who had looked impatient and restless. No wonder, if he was teetering on the brink of the Dark Side the whole while.

Beside her, Ahsoka gasped, and reached for her lightsaber - except there was nothing there. "What?" the Togruta exclaimed, grasping at air. "It's gone!"

Saery just glanced at her. "Shyre took her saber back, then." She turned back to the unfolding duel. "She's apparently good at that."

Ahsoka let out a growl that was somewhere between furious and helpless. Saery thought she understood - the girl couldn't interfere in the fight between Obi-Wan and Anakin without a lightsaber. Given the way the two were fighting, any sort of distraction could prove deadly, one way or another.

But, there was the more important matter anyway. The body of Senator Padmé Amidala lay sprawled on the floor, unmoving. "Obi-Wan didn't mention she was pregnant," Saery commented, frowning.

"...Oh," Ahsoka said, only just realizing it herself. "Could that be…?"

By that time, Obi-Wan and Anakin had moved their duel away from the ship and into the nearby structure. "Come on," Saery said, and she rushed down the ramp and knelt beside the senator, Ahsoka following.

Placing a hand on the poor woman's forehead, Saery closed her eyes. "She's not dead," she reported. "But she's… weak." She shook her head. "Something is wrong. Help me get her aboard."

Working together, the two of them lifted Padmé with the Force, and carefully moved her up the ramp back onto the ship. There they encountered a rather surprised golden protocol droid.

"Oh, my," the droid said, flustered by the appearance of strangers. "Who are you? Is Mistress Padmé all right?"

"We're friends," Saery said shortly. "Where is a bed? We need to put her down."

The droid directed them into a small cabin, which at least had a comfortable-looking bed. They lowered the senator onto it. She looked almost like she was sleeping.

"Keep watch," Saery said to Ahsoka, and then pulled her senses deep into herself and extended them towards her patient.

She was not a healer. She could do little about physical damage, and there were many more subtle maladies she would likely not spot at all. But she didn't think the senator was sick or injured - or at least, not to the degree that would make her essence feel so small in the Force. Instead, she had a different theory.

Long ago, not much after she herself had been a Padawan, a mysterious disease had struck down several Jedi Masters across the galaxy. The specific symptoms of that particular disease were irrelevant; the important part now was that every Jedi who fell "ill" had been linked through the Force to the origin of the malaise, one Lord Vivicar of the Sith. Saery had undergone a quest to learn a "shielding technique" by which those parasitic connections would be severed, and the victims set free.

In Padmé Amidala, she sensed something similar. It wasn't making her sick or driving her mad, but there was an undeniable connection in the Force between the woman on the bed in front of her and… someone nearby. Someone of the Dark Side. She had to assume it was Anakin.

She couldn't be entirely certain of the nature of this connection. Maybe it was benign. Maybe it meant that Anakin was the father of her unborn child and nothing more. But maybe it was something more sinister, even if unintentionally so, and it was the cause of Padmé's current surprisingly frail condition.

She dug into the depths of her memory, and found the procedure for the shielding technique. She had not done this since the death of Lord Vivicar. It was dangerous, and drained her terribly. Regardless of the outcome, she would be no help to anyone for at least several hours after the fact.

She knelt next to this woman she had never met, and knew she had no choice. She would do her part to help save a life.


	10. Chapter 9

_**Chapter 9** _

_Mustafar_

Shyre stood on the banks of the lava flow and watched two foolish Jedi fight.

To be sure, one of them thought he was Sith. It was ridiculous. She had spent her whole life working towards the goal of becoming Sith - she had persevered and excelled in the dangerously partial trials at the Academy on Korriban; she had wreaked havoc as Darth Baras's apprentice and errand-girl; she had cultivated fear and awe as the Emperor's Wrath. She knew her place in a grand society, and knew that her very identity engendered terror and respect. She was a Sith Lord.

To think that a Jedi could claim the title just for murdering his brethren. What hope was there for him if he couldn't even complete that time-honored rite of passage of defeating his former master?

Frankly, given the way they were waving their lightsabers exhaustedly at each other, both of them deserved to lose.

The duel was approaching the banks now, so she stepped back, further into the shadows. Saery did not hold a monopoly on staying quiet.

The duel ended conclusively soon enough, with the Jedi Obi-Wan standing as victor. They shouted some last parting words at each other, and then Obi-Wan turned and walked away, even as the would-be Sith lay there and burned.

A minute passed. Two. The Jedi was long out of sight. Anakin was trying desperately to claw his way up the bank with his one remaining limb. He kept screaming in rage and defiance.

The Jedi did not understand that rage and defiance could be enough to keep a Sith alive beyond any reasonable damage. Obi-Wan had left Anakin for dead. He would be sorely disappointed. Three missing limbs and a half-melted body were nothing compared to what some legendary Sith had surpassed. There was a rumor that Darth Marr was held together by nothing but his armor and his sheer force of will. And of course Vitiate, the true Sith Emperor, had grown too powerful for the loss of a body to do more than merely slow him down.

Anakin was not nearly at that level. His anger would sustain him, but not that far.

Shyre approached, and squatted down in front of the dead man screaming. Even at that distance, the heat from the lava baked her exposed skin, like she was suffering from a rapid sunburn. She could bear it for a few seconds. "Hello," she said. "I trust you remember me."

Yellow eyes fought to focus, and found her own.

"I just wanted you to know," Shyre said, "that I always complete my missions."

He didn't understand. He was too far gone to think logically.

She stood, and took a step back. As fun as it would have been to mutilate him further with her lightsaber - now recovered and in its rightful place on her belt - there was a simpler and more elegant solution readily available.

She lifted one hand, palm up, and raised the burnt body of Anakin into the air. She moved him backwards, over the river he had been trying so desperately to crawl away from. She waited, listening to his screams with delight.

And she let him fall.

Anakin, fallen Jedi, would-be Sith, disappeared under the rolling waves of lava. His body was instantly burned away, dissolved into nothingness. He was dead, and a tremor in the Force marked his passing.

Shyre looked to the sky. One problem was about to replaced by another unless they moved quickly. Palpatine was on his way. And judging by the surge of anger she felt from shuttle even now descending from orbit, he was aware that his chosen apprentice was dead.

She hurried back to the others.

When she reached the senator's silvery ship, she found Ahsoka standing on the ramp, looking very cross.

"We need to leave immediately," Shyre said as she hustled into the ship.

"We know," Ahsoka snapped back. She was probably still upset about losing Shyre's lightsaber. Shyre found it hard to feel sorry for her. The Togruta shouted to the front of the ship: "She's on, let's go!"

Shyre walked to the cockpit, where Obi-Wan was piloting the ship as it lifted off. She sat lazily in the co-pilot's chair. There was a blue and white astromech droid she didn't recognize also in the cockpit, and Ahsoka followed her, but that still left a face or two unaccounted for. "Where's Saery?" she asked.

"Resting," Ahsoka answered. "She did something to Padmé - it seems to have helped, but both of them are asleep now."

"You're aware that we are being chased by Palpatine?" Shyre asked Obi-Wan.

"I am," he said tersely. "Which means that Master Yoda failed, and is possibly dead."

Shyre tried to picture the small green Jedi Master going up against a Sith Lord at the height of his power. She couldn't say she was surprised by the outcome.

"Where are we going? Other than 'away.'"

"To rendezvous with Senator Organa." Obi-Wan glanced over at the Sith sitting calmly beside him. "I suppose you are a part of our little conspiracy of resistance now, whether you like it or not."

"I'm so honored," Shyre said flatly.

"I still don't understand," Ahsoka said from behind them. "Why are you helping us, and not Palpatine? Wasn't the whole thing with the warehouse because you were following his orders?"

Shyre spun her chair around to face the Togruta. "Allow me to spell it out for you," she said. "I went to Palpatine because he was Sith, and it would have been gross negligence on my part to ignore what might have been, according to the Jedi Council, the last remaining Sith in the entire galaxy. Being Sith, upon meeting him, I had two options: subjugate or serve."

She rocked a bit as the ship made the jump into hyperspace, escaping the harsh lava planet and, hopefully, Palpatine's pursuit. Obi-Wan relaxed, and turned to listen in on the conversation.

"Then and there, I could not have defeated him," Shyre said. "I will admit that. So I chose to serve."

"Then you _are_ working for him!" Ahsoka cried, springing up out of her chair.

"Sit down, girl," Shyre barked out, the way she used to lecture Imperial officers who didn't believe she deserved their full attention. Ahsoka, surprised, sat down. Obi-Wan just frowned. "I accepted one task from him," Shyre continued. "Ask yourself: Have I completed that task?"

"...Anakin is dead," Ahsoka said slowly, likely the first time she had said it aloud. She glanced at Obi-Wan. "So… yes?"

"Then you need not fear any lingering hold Palpatine may have over me," Shyre said. "I owe him nothing, and his continued existence rather limits my options. As long as we are aligned against him, I am on your side."

There was, of course, one loose end she hadn't mentioned - Ahsoka herself. After all, her orders had not been to kill just the _first_ person to enter the warehouse. But telling the Togruta girl that she fully intended to kill her someday would just complicate matters a bit too much, no matter how much fun it might be in the short term.

"That will have to be good enough," Obi-Wan said. "Ahsoka, go check on Padmé and Master Dusklight, please."

"Yes, Master," Ahsoka said, then padded away to whatever room the others were resting in.

When the two of them were alone, Obi-Wan said, "I know you killed Anakin."

"You left him to die," Shyre said. "I expedited the process."

"I left it to the will of the Force," Obi-Wan said, then sighed. "He was meant for such great things…"

"Have you heard the legend of Darth Sion, the Lord of Pain?" Shyre asked. "I assume not. I imagine your exposure to ancient Sith legends is negligible."

"I have not," Obi-Wan confirmed, confused at the apparent non-sequitur.

"Thousands of years ago, now," Shyre said, "Sion was a Sith who fought against the Jedi. The details are not important. What's important is that he was struck down, but the strength of his anger and the focus of his pain allowed him to continue to exist, a fractured body held together by the Dark Side of the Force. He was constantly in the worst pain imaginable, but he took that pain and used it to fuel his own life."

"An interesting legend," Obi-Wan said. "Does it hold any truth at all?"

"Whether there was truly a Darth Sion, I could not tell you," Shyre said. "My point is this: You walked away from a man full of hatred and rage as he burned. Maybe they would not have sustained him for long. But it is unwise to take a Sith's demise for granted. We have a habit of clawing to life by the most tenuous of threads, just too angry to let go."

Obi-Wan was quiet for a moment, looking out at the swirling blue of hyperspace. "I will keep that in mind," he said eventually.

"Rule one when fighting Sith," Shyre summarized, standing up. "Do nothing half-hearted. If you're going to kill him, make well sure he can't stand up and kill you back."

"I will _definitely_ keep that in mind," Obi-Wan said. After a moment, he turned to look back at Shyre, who was halfway out of the cockpit. "Shyre," he said, "for a Sith, you don't seem particularly full of anger or hatred."

Shyre stopped in her tracks. Facing away from Obi-Wan, she glared ahead at nothing. "I am the Emperor's Wrath," she breathed, barely audible even in the small cockpit. Then she pushed forward and opened the door to the cabin where the others were gathered.

She found Saery just sitting up, apparently recovered from whatever she had done to herself. "What happened?" the Mirialan asked.

"Anakin is dead," Shyre reported, leaning back against the wall with her arms crossed. "Palpatine is upset. We are on our way to meet up with some senator."

Saery nodded, taking this in. Then she turned to the woman lying in the bed beside her. "How is Padmé?"

"Better," Ahsoka said, "but not great. We should get her to a real medical facility soon, if we can."

"What did you do, anyway, that knocked you out for a few minutes?" Shyre asked Saery.

"I'm curious to know as well," Obi-Wan said from the doorway. "I've seen Healers work before, and they don't usually pass out from conducting a check-up."

Saery shook her head. "The simplest way to put it is that she was tethered, I assume to Anakin, with the Dark Side of the Force. I can't tell you what effect the tether had, or would have had now. That would have required observation and experimentation, and given the circumstances I decided just to sever it instead."

"I've never heard of anything like this before," Obi-Wan said. "Was it new? Or has she been 'tethered' for some time?"

"I've never seen her before today," Saery said apologetically. "I couldn't tell you."

"I understand," Obi-Wan said. He glanced over in the direction of the cockpit. "It shouldn't be too much longer to Bail's rendezvous. I'm sure he will know of a medical facility safe from Palpatine."

* * *

_Polis Massa_

"You may or may not be pleased to know," Saery said wearily, "that the senator has delivered twins."

Shyre was standing out in the hall. It was awkward enough standing around the bedridden senator, whom she had never properly met - staying in the room _while the woman was giving birth_ was several steps too far. She'd made a tactical retreat.

"How lovely for her," Shyre said. "Have we determined what to do with her? And the children, I suppose."

"Not yet," Saery said. "But if you want to be a part of the decision, you should rejoin us now."

Sighing, Shyre obliged, and followed Saery back into the room. It was a larger group now; beyond Shyre and Saery, there were of course Obi-Wan and Ahsoka, plus the small, green Master Yoda - apparently not dead after all - standing next to a man who had been introduced as Bail Organa, who was standing protectively next to Padmé Amidala, who was lying on the bed, sleeping off the ordeal of giving birth to twins. Bail and Obi-Wan were each cradling a baby in their arms. To top it all off, a protocol droid and an astromech droid were stuffed in the corner.

That was the other reason she'd fled to the hallway. Too many people.

"Assess the situation, we must," Yoda was saying. "Defeated, the Emperor is not."

"He's down an apprentice," Obi-Wan said with some melancholy. "It's anyone's guess how long before Palpatine begins to train a replacement."

"Don't look at me," Shyre said as several people in the room started to do just that. "In my time, most Sith Lords chose their apprentices from the Academy on Korriban."

"Politically," Bail said, "we have no reason to believe Palpatine will take direct action against the Senate. I should be able to return to Coruscant and continue my work there." He looked down at the woman on the bed. "Padmé, however, should not."

"I agree," Obi-Wan said. "She's too strongly connected with Anakin. If nothing else, the children must be hidden from Palpatine, and she will want to be with them."

Yoda hummed in disapproval. "Split up, the twins should be," he said. "Easier to protect, if in different locations they are."

"We're not stealing Padmé's children from her," Bail said firmly. "And as long as they stay away from Coruscant, will they really be in much danger?"

"That depends on how much Palpatine knows," Shyre contributed resignedly. "If he knows that the apprentice he spent years manipulating and cultivating had children, and that those children are living and well, I believe he would want to find them. To kill or to capture, I couldn't say."

"We have to assume he knew Padmé was pregnant," Obi-Wan said. "It's possible he did not, but the risks are too great not to plan for the worst." He twisted his beard a bit as he thought. "In the short term, we should fake her death. Where she and the children go from there can be determined later, after she's awake and can provide her own opinion."

"Where are _we_ going?" Shyre asked, gesturing to the include the gathered Jedi. "None of us are welcome on Coruscant. I certainly can't go back; Palpatine would sense me before I even entered the atmosphere. And I have no home to go to, unless you want me to find out what Korriban is like these days."

"Actually," Saery said, "I have an idea. A system that served as the perfect hiding place for my Alliance thousands of years ago. Its remote location and unique balance in the Force means that it is extremely unlikely we will be detected there." She clasped her hands together. "I will take us to Odessen."


	11. Chapter 10

_**Chapter 10** _

_Odessen_

Bail Organa's corvette cruised over the mountain ridge, and Saery got her first look at the Alliance headquarters, three and a half thousand years after she left it.

It was in ruins.

She had expected it, but it still hurt.

The _Tantive III_ touched down on the landing pad where once upon a time the _Gravestone_ had rested. From there, it was easier to see that the base had been expanded at some point - there was more to it than she remembered - but it had also been destroyed at some point. How long had her Alliance soldiered on without her? Had Zakuul won after all?

Since meeting with the Jedi Council the first time, she had comfortably assumed that Vaylin, SCORPIO, and whoever else might have stood in their way - they had all ultimately fallen, because otherwise, she would have heard something. Right? If the Eternal Empire of Zakuul had wiped out her Alliance and conquered the galaxy… wouldn't there be record of it? Wouldn't she and Shyre have emerged into a future that at least thought an entire historical Empire was worth mentioning?

She forced herself to breathe. Three and a half thousand years was an awfully long time. For all she knew, Zakuul had been defeated easily, and then a thousand years later the base had been destroyed for unrelated reasons. It was too early to make assumptions.

She felt awkwardly like a cross between a hostess and a tour guide as she led the small caravan behind her - two Jedi Masters, one Jedi who insisted she wasn't, one Sith Lord, two senators, two droids, and two infants. Then she reached the lift down to the War Room, and discovered that it was no longer functional. It was there, but when she pressed the button to descend, there was no response.

She sighed, and looked at the others. "I suppose it was too much to hope that the generators were still good after three thousand years." She considered cutting their way through the lift and dropping down the shaft, but that would rather inconvenience the members of the party who couldn't use the Force to break their falls. "Let's go the other way, then. See if there's anything of note in the cantina."

"You had a cantina," Obi-Wan commented, as if questioning her priorities.

"When you're trying to build a haphazard alliance of former sworn enemies against a common foe who seems unassailable," Saery said, "it helps to give the men a place to relax." She led the group across the courtyard and down the steps into what once was a place of music, drinks, and general revelry.

Now, she found, the general shape of the cantina was intact, but most of the furniture was falling apart, including the odd addition of several beds collected in one corner. Overflow for the barracks… or for the medical bay?

"Okay," she said. "Rather than drag everyone around, why don't most of you wait here, while a couple of us scout out the rest of the base and get the power going again?"

"That's probably for the best," Obi-Wan said, eying the two senators, each carrying a baby. The babies in question were quiet for the moment, but Saery knew enough about babies to know that could change at any moment.

"Keep watch over the senators, I can," Yoda said, sensing his intent.

Saery looked at the remaining Jedi, including Shyre, who would resent being thought of like that. "Probably best if we split up," she said. "In pairs, to be safest."

"Agreed," Obi-Wan said. "I'll take Ahsoka, and explore the tunnels in this direction."

Ahsoka looked at the older Jedi and nodded.

"Shyre and I will head back towards the War Room, then," Saery said. "If you're amenable, of course."

"Exploring ancient abandoned structures is more fun than babysitting politicians, yes," Shyre said.

"Then we're agreed." Saery clapped her hands together. "Don't hesitate to call for help if you need it. Otherwise, we'll meet back here in a few hours."

After a respectful bow, Obi-Wan put an arm around Ahsoka's shoulders and began to lead her away towards the back of the cantina, where the entrance to the tunnel system could be found. If it was the same as Saery remembered, they would mostly find barracks and private quarters, plus more common areas.

"Let's go," she said to Shyre, then jogged up the cantina steps and back over to the immobile lift. The Sith was quiet beside her, until they were stopped on the platform for a few seconds.

"I assumed you had a plan," she said, sounding half-amused.

"Maybe," Saery said. "Hang on." She reached out with the Force and tried to feel for the lift's activation mechanism. With any luck, she would be able to trip an automatic failsafe or something and-

The floor dropped out from under her, quite literally. Instead of descending normally, or the more likely not moving at all, the lift platform collapsed into a freefall. It wasn't that long of a drop, but the landing still caused her to go sprawling, and put bruises on top of the bruises she was still nursing from Utapau.

Groaning, she sat up to see that Shyre had managed the landing far better, and was merely brushing dust off her cloak as she radiated smugness through the Force. "Yeah, yeah," Saery breathed, then stood and looked out into the War Room.

To her surprise, it looked… almost identical. Computer banks lined the walls while the central holographic emitter sat proudly in the middle, waiting for data to display. Down the stairs there was a table, and a doorway leading to various offices and specialist environments.

"Interesting," Shyre commented. "I was sure the lift was a trap, not a malfunction, but there doesn't seem to be any follow-up."

"I wonder," Saery said. She moved to one of the computers on the wall. It didn't turn on, of course; there was still no power. "We'll have to keep looking. Hopefully the generators aren't too hard to repair."

She led the Sith down the steps and through the doorway, turned left, and followed the hallway until a door on the right. She used the Force to slide the door open, then gazed in some disappointment at the completely empty room. "This is where we kept some of our supplies," she explained, "like spare power cells. I guess that would have been too easy."

She turned and started to walk back in the direction they'd come from. "On the bright side, if they had time to pack up and take all the supplies with them, that means the Alliance left on their own terms."

"Or," Shyre commented, "it means they were wiped out, and centuries later scavengers made away with everything useful."

Saery sighed. "Or that," she admitted. The hallway took them to a wide room full of more large, lifeless computer banks. "Doctor Oggurobb had a workshop here," she said. It was so clear in her mind - the memory of the large, blue-toned Hutt lying on his podium, ordering his workers about as they strove to develop new advancements in science and technology…

Not, she reflected, that there seemed to have been many of those over the course of three millennia. All too often it was easy to forget that she and Shyre had, for all intents and purposes, traveled to the future.

"Computers are off, supplies are gone," Shyre summarized. "Same as everywhere else we check, I expect."

"Probably," Saery admitted. "But we still have to look."

* * *

A few standard hours later, they returned to the cantina, where the others were still gathered. The two senators were standing in a corner and talking quietly to each other, so Saery veered for Obi-Wan and Ahsoka.

"How were the tunnels?" she asked.

"Infested," Obi-Wan reported dryly. "Some local creature I'm not familiar with found a way in and has established a colony in the main barracks, I believe."

"Oh," Saery said, irrationally disappointed that the base hadn't held secure for thousands of years. "Those would be shade stalkers, I assume. We were constantly having to drive them away. Persistent little monsters, but not much of a threat, especially if you have a lightsaber."

"If," Ahsoka grumbled, casting a dark look at Shyre.

"Did you find anything else interesting?" Saery asked.

"Well, we found your quarters, I believe," Obi-Wan answered. "It all seemed a bit personal, so we didn't search in detail, but it appears you were strongly missed, Commander." He gave her a bit of a bow, but she didn't react.

She hadn't even _considered_ her own room.

"Excuse me," she said woodenly, and walked away, her feet navigating automatically to the closest thing she'd had to a home since the Alliance had settled on Odessen.

There were shade stalker corpses in the hallway, but none in the room itself, though the door was open. Everything was how she had left it, in the sense that it was clear nobody else had occupied the room after her disappearance. Her chest of personal effects was sitting on the floor, locked - there was barely anything in there, and she doubted most of it had survived the wait, but she knew instinctively that nobody else had tried to open it. With a quick gesture, she used the Force to open the closet; none of her actual clothes had survived, of course, but the secret panel was still secure, and behind it, the personal effects she actually cared about, including her old lightsaber - the silver hilt with yellow blade she had carried for most of her career, until circumstances had led her to craft its replacement.

She took it, turning it over in her hands, but did not activate it. She wasn't sure if it would still be safe after sitting in a cubby hole for so long. Still, she would give it to Ahsoka; maybe the girl could salvage a new saber out of it.

There was a handheld holo-emitter sitting on the bed. She felt dull surprise, only noticing it as she turned away from the closet. More importantly, a little light on the side was blinking. The thing was still functional.

Slowly, she picked it up, and nearly flinched as a small image of Lana Beniko, just a few centimeters tall, sputtered to life above her hand.

"Commander Saery Dusklight," the image of Lana addressed, and then there were several seconds of garbled static. Frustrated, Saery shook the holo-emitter; this did nothing, of course, but the message cleared up marginally on its own anyway. "...not much," Lana was saying. "Of course … have to … again. We can try a different tactic. But now we don't have much time."

The message was more stable now, and the tiny face of Lana Beniko peered up unknowingly at Saery. "If by chance you ever see this, I want you to know that we held on as long as we could. But it all ends tomorrow. We are throwing everything we have at Vaylin and the Throne, and whether we win or lose, we're not coming back."

The little image of Lana put her hands on her hips. "And you, Commander. I regret sending you to Aloraga. But from what we've been able to determine, you'll come out of that cave someday. And when you do, we will probably all be dead. But, with luck and the Force on our side, you'll come out to a galaxy free of the Eternal Empire."

Lana took a deep breath. "One last thing. I also want you to-"

The messaged fragmented back into static. Saery just stared at it for a while, until it shut down. Almost unconsciously she hit the button to replay, and heard the exact same message over again. The data had simply been corrupted by the passage of time. It was likely not possible to recover the rest of the message at all.

Slowly, she sat down on her bed, and ignored the cloud of dust this kicked up.

She should not have come back to Odessen. What exactly had she been hoping for? A fully-functional base to operate out of? Three-thousand-year-old supplies to use against the new Empire?

She'd been hoping for knowledge and closure. Now that she had them, she did not want them. She gripped the holo-emitter tightly, and almost threw it at the wall, but resisted the urge at the last second. It was all she had left of Lana, of her friends and allies. She would keep it.

She stood, and returned to the cantina.

As she arrived, Padmé appeared to be addressing the rest of the group. "We've been here long enough," she was saying. "As soon as possible, Bail and I should head back to the core worlds. I can stay hidden on Alderaan, and keep a low profile while working to support Bail's resistance efforts."

"I still think we should fake your death," Obi-Wan said. "But that aside, Alderaan's as good a place as any. The Organa family can protect you, to a degree."

"Exactly," Bail said. "We can take Padmé into the household under an assumed identity."

"If you're heading back out near Coruscant," Saery said, "I'll go with you."

"We just got here," Obi-Wan said, surprised. "You want to leave so soon?"

"Out of all the Jedi here," she said, "I'm the one who can move about most easily - I'm not a famous master or general. I'm not even on any exhaustive lists they might have of all Jedi. As long as I'm circumspect, I won't be a target." She glanced around. "And it's obvious that this place needs a lot of work. We're going to need supplies we don't have. If Senator Organa returns to Coruscant and Senator Amidala hides on Alderaan, someone else needs to bring those supplies back."

Ahsoka raised her hand. "I'll go with you," she offered. "Some clones might recognize me, but the general public shouldn't. And a little backup never hurt anyone."

Saery looked at Obi-Wan and Yoda to see if they had any objections, but Obi-Wan nodded approvingly while Yoda gave no reaction at all.

"And the rest of us are supposed to sit and wait?" Shyre asked unhappily.

"I was thinking, while you single-handedly clear the area of shade stalkers and other dangers," Saery said, "Masters Obi-Wan and Yoda could see about coming up with a long-term plan. As far as we know, we're the last of the Jedi - we can't just hide away forever."

The two masters in question looked at each other, and Saery knew that their discussion would be long and intensive. She wanted to be part of it, too - but standing here on Odessen, she felt more like the Commander of the Alliance than she had in some time, and it was the Commander's job to delegate resources where they would do the most good.

In this case, she was the best choice for running field missions, so that's what she intended to do.

"Then agreed, we are," Yoda said with some finality. He looked to the senators. "Prepare for your return, you must."

Bail nodded, and the two of them began the walk back to the corvette, followed shortly by the two droids.

Saery gestured to Ahsoka to walk beside her, and then also started off in that direction.

"I have something for you," she said as they stepped out into the open air of the courtyard. She reached under her robes and produced that old double-bladed saber from her old room. "It's literally thousands of years old now," she cautioned, "but I thought it might get you started on making yourself a new one."

Ahsoka took the long saber hilt and held it gently. "Thank you, Master Dusklight," she said. "With your permission, I'll disassemble it once we board the ship. I'm sure at least some of the parts have weathered the years."

"No permission needed," Saery assured her. "It's yours to do with as you will, now."

Ahsoka nodded in understanding, and the two of them followed the senators and the droids onto the _Tantive III._


	12. Chapter 11

_**Chapter 11** _

_Odessen_

Shyre paced restlessly in the ancient cantina. Saery and the others had been gone mere minutes, and she was already impatient for their return.

What was it Saery had wanted her to do? Clear out vermin? Hissing in exasperation, she took up her lightsaber and strode out into the tunnels, leaving Obi-Wan and Yoda to make whatever deliberations they were going to make. They wouldn't accept her input anyway.

The tunnels already had several corpses of the creatures infesting the base. She nudged one with her boot, examining its form. From the look of things, it was like a one-meter-tall lithe rancor. Strong leg muscles meant she should expect charges or jumps. Otherwise they just seemed to have sharp claws and teeth. Not a big deal.

If she listened carefully, she could just barely hear a low rumble of growls coming from deeper in the tunnel network. Based on what Obi-Wan had said earlier, that would be the colony set up in the main barracks. She set off in that direction.

It was easy to tell roughly whereabouts Obi-Wan and Ahsoka had stopped their exploring, because she found a living shade stalker chewing on the last visible corpse of its fellows. Shyre grimaced, and ignited her lightsaber.

The creature's head shot up to stare at her. It let out a screech, then dove back out of the faint orange light. From there, it let out a growl.

Shyre wasn't sure what predatory games it thought it was playing, but she would have none of it. She snapped her wrist forward and sent her lightsaber spinning through the air, neatly bisecting the shade stalker. She summoned her hilt back to her hand, and stepped over the fresh corpse on her way to the barracks.

She had to dispatch two or three more of the shade stalkers en route, but for the most part she reached the barracks unmolested. Looking in from the doorway, however, she saw that clearing the room would not be trivial. The barracks was large, at one point probably holding several dozen beds, and there had to be at least that many shade stalkers gathered there. Additionally, maybe a tenth of them were noticeably larger than the rest - she presumed that these were the strongest, and the leaders of whatever the shade stalker equivalent of society was.

She smiled a bit as vague outlines of battle plans went filtering through her head. A job like this would hardly require strict tactical planning, but she'd often found it helpful to have at least a general idea of what she wanted to do. In this case, she would cut her way along the edge until and unless there seemed to be a risk of getting trapped against the wall, at which point she would drive towards the center of the room and hold it against all comers.

She wasn't terribly concerned about getting hurt. She'd fought monsters before, and she surely would again, and it had been an awfully long time since any had put her in any real danger.

She shook out any lingering stiffness in her limbs, then set to work.

* * *

About thirty seven shade stalkers later, a low rumbling brought Shyre out of her almost meditative state of dismembering the few remaining monsters. She retreating towards the door, and watched the back wall carefully - the rumble seemed to be coming from that direction. Now that her view wasn't blocked by swarming shade stalkers, she noticed a crack in the wall, not big enough for her to get through but maybe enough for one of the creatures she'd been killing.

But also apparently not big enough for whatever was on the other side of the wall. It impacted with a dull boom, and then tried again after a few seconds. Shyre shifted her grip on her lightsaber in anticipation. She had no doubt the wall would break in another hit or two, and then she would get to fight whatever was making that noise. It might even be a half-decent challenge.

As predicted, on the next hit, the entire wall buckled, and the hit after that knocked it down entirely. Shyre just had time to process the appearance of her newest opponent - it was very similar to the shade stalkers, but instead of being about a meter in height, this creature was easily over two, maybe even three if it stood up straight instead of hunching over to fit through the hole in the wall. Other than its size, its other distinction was a colorful crest that extended from the top of its head down the back of its neck.

Shyre decided to call it the king shade stalker, if just for convenience.

The king roared in triumph after defeating the wall, then locked its beady eyes onto Shyre. Shyre grinned, then leapt forward to meet it, orange-black blade whirling for a deadly first strike.

But the giant creature was faster than she expected. It swatted her out of the air before she reached her target. Flying off to the side, she hit the wall and rebounded to the ground, settling into a guarded crouch.

The king roared again. One of the scant remaining normal shade stalkers responded with a cry of its own and charged at her; she turned briefly to cut it down. Then the Force warned her to duck, as a chunk of the broken wall went sailing through the air where her head had been. She looked at the king and narrowed her eyes; it was smarter and more dangerous than she'd given it credit for.

She blocked the next makeshift missile with her lightsaber, then charged forward again, at ground level this time. She dodged the king's quick swipe at her, then swung fiercely and removed its right hand from the battle.

The king let out a scream that was loud enough from that close to make her flinch - not a trivial feat - and it took advantage of the distraction to grab her around the waist with its left hand. Its claws sunk into her body armor, and she knew that she'd have been in bad shape without its protection.

Well, that was what armor was for, after all.

Fighting fire with fire, she took a gasping breath, filling her lungs to capacity, then let out an enormous shout of her own, using the Force to give it that extra kick. The king shade stalker seemed more confused than scared, and pulled her in closer to its face. That hadn't been her intention but it would work just fine - she thrust her lightsaber forward and plunged it into the creature's left eye.

It dropped her immediately to clutch at its face with its remaining hand, the stump of the other waving about wildly. It did not, however, drop dead. Apparently it took more than a saber through the eye to take down one of these things.

Dodging to the king's blind side, she swung low to hamstring its leg, causing it to buckle. She spun and followed up with a chop that took the saber right through the king shade stalker's neck. Its body collapsed to the ground at her feet, and the head bounced away somewhere. A clean decapitation, and another victory for the Wrath.

She watched its corpse for a few seconds to make sure it wouldn't get up again, then turned slowly in place, looking for shade stalkers who might try to get revenge. If there were any even still alive, they had found their caution, because she saw nothing. She deactivated her lightsaber and smiled.

She took a moment to examine the damage to her cloak and armor. The armor would probably be fine for the time being - a few gashes and punctures that didn't even break all the way through. They weren't a critical concern, though ideally she'd fix it someday. The cloak was another matter, though; there were some very visible tears around the waist. It wasn't a disaster, but it was certainly unsightly, and counter-productive. A tattered cloak intimidated no one.

Sighing, she reached up and carefully unfastened her hood, then removed the cloak altogether. She craned her neck back and forth a bit. It felt strange not to be wearing the hood.

Under it, she had thick black hair that reached the nape of her neck, held out of her face by a silver headband. That was her big secret, as much as it qualified as a secret at all - she kept her hood fastened to her headband to keep it in place.

Presentation. It mattered. Or it had.

She scratched the back of her neck. She'd wasted enough time worrying about her appearance. There was work to be done.

The hole the king shade stalker had put in the wall - or, more accurately, the wall the king shade stalker had taken down completely - revealed more tunnels, but of the rough-hewn kind, rather than constructed. Shyre suspected she'd found how the shade stalkers had entered the base in the first place. Either there was a larger colony of the creatures deep in the tunnel system, or the tunnel simply led to the outside. Maybe both. She had time; she would figure it out.

She lit her lightsaber once again to light her way, and descended into the tunnels.

* * *

_Coruscant - Tantive III_

In a lounge on Bail's corvette, Saery sat and watched over Ahsoka, who was kneeling in the middle of a scattered plethora of lightsaber parts, the disassembled remnants of her own first blade. The Togruta girl had carefully examined each piece as she took the double-bladed hilt apart, and placed them on the floor according to some pattern only she understood. Now she was just meditating in their midst.

Saery couldn't judge. The construction of a lightsaber could be a very introspective and private process sometimes. And she had to admit that watching the lightsaber she'd used for years get taken apart to its base components made her feel a little… wistful, perhaps? The galaxy had been simpler, back when she'd constructed it. They'd been in the middle of a cold war with the Sith, it was true, but it was well before the nonsense of Zakuul… and before she had skipped three and a half thousand years.

"Good news and bad news," Ahsoka reported suddenly, without even opening her eyes. "The bad news is that most of the technical parts are junk now. The lenses are warped, the power cells lost their charge, the focusing rings are rusted. The good news is that most of that stuff is easy to find. The _important_ part…" She opened her eyes and looked at the tiny, sparkling crystals right in front of her. "The crystals are fine. I can feel them in the Force."

"That's good," Saery said.

"They're not from Ilum, though," Ahsoka commented with faint curiosity.

"Ilum?" Saery repeated. "No, I built that saber on Tython. What's significant about Ilum?" She had been to Ilum in the past, and it was a significant source of crystals, but she had never had cause to make use of them herself. Though, she wasn't quite sure of the origin of her current crystals, since they had been provided by Grand Master Satele Shan, and she hadn't thought to question it…

"Nothing important, I guess," Ahsoka said. "It's just that we've only been using crystals from Ilum for, like, a thousand years. I guess you'd have to ask Master Yoda why."

"If I remember," Saery said. She gestured to the mess of components spread across the floor. "So, how much of what you need do you think you can find on board?"

The _Tantive III_ was sitting in a hanger on Coruscant. Saery and Ahsoka were staying hidden on board, as were Padmé and the babies, while Bail took care of some senatorial duties while allaying suspicion.

"Some of it." Ahsoka sighed. "If we could get into the Temple, I could find it all easily."

"You know we can't take that risk," Saery said gently. Before arriving, they'd considered making a heist of it, sneaking it and out, but a quick flyby glance showed that it wouldn't be feasible. There was a minimal guard stationed outside the Temple, but the real trouble was the hundreds of workers who were cleaning up the thousands of corpses. It was grisly work that she wanted to stay well away from, especially since it would be exceedingly difficult to sneak around in that environment, and even being spotted at all would ruin her biggest advantage - her anonymity.

Ahsoka began to gather the pieces into two piles; one pile contained the crystals and the small handful of other ancient components that would still function, and the other, much larger pile contained all the parts that she rejected. She scooped the first pile into a small pouch on her belt, then used the Force to dump the whole second pile into the disposal.

"I'll see if they have anything in Engineering," she said, and began to head back towards the corvette's small engineering department.

Instead of following, Saery went the other direction, to where Padmé was reclining in the guest quarters. The senator was breastfeeding her children; she didn't seem to mind the intrusion, but Saery kept her gaze respectfully averted anyway as she talked.

"Senator," she said, "Have you thought more about the plan to fake your death?"

"You can call me Padmé," the young woman said. "I suppose I'm not really a senator anymore, and I understand I have you to thank for my life."

Saery shook her head. "I don't know if what I did made any difference at all."

"Just the same." Padmé shifted a bit, careful not to jostle the babies. "And, yes. The trouble is that, as a former queen, the people of Naboo will expect a state funeral. That requires a body. And I will tell you right now that I refuse to descend into complicated plans that involve faking my corpse."

"Sounds… reasonable," Saery said.

"It will be easier for everyone to simply leave me as missing," Padmé said. "Missing and presumed dead. It's less fuss. Plus, if we manage to defeat Palpatine and restore the Republic, it's less work for me to emerge without having to spin coming back from the dead."

"Restore the Republic…" Saery mused. "Do you really think we can?" She gestured vaguely towards outside the ship, towards Coruscant. "Even if we defeat Palpatine, the army is demonstrably loyal to him. Most of the Senate must support him, or he wouldn't be in power in the first place. Do you really think the galaxy would accept such a drastic shift twice in quick succession?"

"Every day that goes by makes it more difficult," Padmé admitted. "Right now, the Empire is still finding its feet and sorting out its new establishment. If people begin to think of the Empire as 'normal,' then I agree, we will have a hard fight ahead of us, even without Palpatine." She sighed. "I can only hope that Obi-Wan and Master Yoda come up with a plan to guide us through this mess."

"Indeed," Saery murmured.

Ahsoka poked her head into the room. "Master Dusklight?" she called, then caught sight of Padmé. She pulled back a bit, hesitating over whether it was okay to stay.

"By your leave," Saery said to the former senator, then stepped out of the room. "Yes, Ahsoka?"

"Engineering had some of the things I need," the girl said, "and I think I can get the rest with a little shopping. Do you think it's safe to visit the street market nearby?"

"Probably not," Saery said, "but if you give Senator Organa a call, I'm sure he'd be willing to swing by on his way back." But, seeing Ahsoka's face fall slightly, and remembering the excitement of nearly being ready to construct a lightsaber, she relented. "Or, I suppose we could go, if it's not too far."

* * *

Saery and Ahsoka, both wearing rough homespun ponchos, walked slowly down the open-air market street. Being Coruscant, there was a throng of people, and even this relatively simple affair couldn't resist stacking - there were booths on top of other booths, accessible by shoddy scaffolding or, for the particularly high ones, only directly by speeder. Shyre held Ahsoka's hand, both to keep from losing her in the crowd, which would be a mild inconvenience at worst, and also because it made them look even less like Jedi.

"There," Ahsoka said, pointing. "I should be able to get some focusing rings there. And that should be the last of it."

Saery nodded and let go, not seeing a need to cram the both of them into the narrow shopfront.

As she waited, she tried to stand inconspicuously out of the flow of traffic. She wasn't using any of her Force-assisted stealth tricks to stay hidden - for all she knew, Palpatine could detect any use of the Force from a distance. There also didn't seem to be any need, as their simple disguises seemed to be holding up just fine.

Then, a cold sensation trickled down her back. There was danger here - the Force was warning her. So much for no need. She pressed herself against the side of a booth selling fruit, and did her best to cloak herself from the eyes of so many passers-by. All the while, her eyes darted about, trying to spot the danger before it was too late.

She did manage to see Ahsoka, who was finishing up her transaction as quickly as possible. The girl was visibly uneasy; she must have felt the danger too. With a few last words to the shopkeep, she clutched the bag containing her new focusing rings and hurried back to where Saery had been.

Saery slid through the crowd to meet her. "We need to get back to the ship," she said.

"No," Ahsoka said firmly. "I need a quiet corner to build my lightsabers, and then we need to run."

Saery frowned at her. "You recognize this danger?"

Ahsoka glanced around cautiously. "Yes, and we cannot fight him here. Too many bystanders he could hurt."

"There will be bystanders everywhere on Coruscant," Saery said. "We need to get inside."

Ahsoka nodded, and the two of them moved down the street, Saery still doing her best to keep them inconspicuous and unmemorable. At a doorway at the end of the market, she used the Force to unlock the door, and they quickly slipped through.

They were in a home, it looked like, albeit a simple one-room home. Saery wondered for a moment whether living so close to the street market was more distracting or convenient. Regardless, whoever lived there did not seem to be present.

"Work quickly," Saery said to Ahsoka, who dumped all of her assorted lightsaber parts out onto the floor. She still felt the sensation of imminent danger, no stronger or weaker than before. She paced slowly around the perimeter of the room, trying to stay mindful of threats without overly distracting Ahsoka.

In the center of the room, Ahsoka was kneeling, and all of her lightsaber parts were hovering in the air in front of her. It was almost a joy to see a lightsaber constructed - so many disparate pieces all coming together in harmony to form one perfect instrument.

Well, not just one. Ahsoka had gathered the materials necessary for two hilts, and she was putting both of them together at the same time. Saery had never tried anything like that herself, having stuck to double-bladed sabers, and she was impressed.

It took about a minute, all told. Then Ahsoka stood and gripped her new lightsabers firmly. She held them out and ignited them for the first time.

Brilliant blades of _white_ snapped out and filled the room with their distinctive hum. Ahsoka and Saery both stared.

"I've never seen a white lightsaber before," Saery said.

"Neither have I," Ahsoka said. "Maybe because the crystals are so old?" She gave her new sabers a few practice swings. "Well, as long as they work."

There was a noise from outside. Saery turned, suddenly on high alert. "It's time to go," she said.

Before Ahsoka could respond, the door crashed open, torn completely from the doorframe. It thudded to the floor to reveal the source of the danger: A tall man in a black cloak, with unabashedly mechanical legs. In fact, from the look of things, he was artificial from the waist down. Saery tried to imagine what kind of injury would leave a man in that state without outright killing him, and it wasn't pleasant.

"Lady Tano," the man hissed, yellow eyes focused on Ahsoka. "We have unfinished business."


	13. Chapter 12

_**Chapter 12** _

_Odessen_

Shyre swatted the tiny gnats away from her face and wished once again she still had her cloak and hood. She was outside now - the tunnels leading away from the barracks had indeed allowed passage all the way to the side of a small cliff, and from there it was only a moderately dangerous jump to the ground.

The ground level of Odessen, it turned out, was rife with wildlife, but only of the skittish variety. The area seemed to be blissfully free of shade stalkers - or maybe she had already killed all of them? - and nothing else seemed to want to challenge her as she passed. In truth, it was somewhat boring.

Then she glanced around and realized she wasn't sure where she was. She hadn't thought she'd wandered that far…

There was something of a natural path she'd been following, but looking around now, she couldn't see anything of the sort. There were rocky hills all around her, with sparse trees casting an odd sort of gloom over the terrain. In the absence of recognizable landmarks, she picked a direction that vaguely felt right, and set off.

As she walked, the area around her got quieter and quieter, until the only sounds remaining were her boots treading softly on dirt and gravel. No birds were chirping, no critters were chattering. It didn't bode well. Shyre ignited her lightsaber. Maybe she was being paranoid, but something felt very wrong.

" _Wrath…_ "

It was a deep voice in a soft whisper at the back of her mind. She whirled, looking for an origin, a target.

" _My Wrath…"_

"Who's there?" she called out, voice hard.

" _It's been so, so long…"_

Shyre thrust her arms out to the left and right, unleashing a shockwave in the Force that tossed up rocks and dust but not much else. As far as she could sense, she was still alone.

There was no part of this situation that she was happy about.

She took off running, aiming for the peak of a nearby hill as her destination. From there she should have a good vantage point of the area - she'd be able to spot Saery's old Alliance base and make her way back.

It took a few running leaps and Force-assisted jumps to reach the peak. Feeling overly exposed, she quickly examined the landscape around her, and managed to spot the cliff formation that looked like where the base was hidden… but it was way off near the horizon.

She just stood there for a moment. How had she possibly traveled that far? If she had to guess, she hadn't been outside for more than a standard hour, but unless something was messing with her perception of distance, the base was at least ten kilometers away. She highly doubted she had covered ten kilometers in an hour at her casual, cautious stroll.

Still. There was only one way to get back.

" _You've come so far…"_

The strange whisper sounded like it was right behind her. She whirled, her lightsaber slashing harmlessly through the air - her foot slipped, and she ended up sliding down a couple of meters along with a miniature rock slide of gravel. Nothing was there.

She glanced at the position of the sun in the sky. She wasn't too sure about Odessen's cycle, but it seemed like night might fall before she got back to the base. With luck, the dark wouldn't bring out any local creatures any more dangerous than the shade stalkers - not because they would pose a real threat, but because she wasn't feeling particularly patient at the moment.

It took a couple careful jumps to reach the bottom of the hill. Keeping the direction of the base in mind, and checking against natural landmarks and the sun, she set out, on alert for anything unexpected.

" _I'll find you soon…"_

She broke into a run.

* * *

When she did reach the base, it was fully dark, with the galaxy on proud display as constellations high above. Rather than try to find and somehow jump up to the hole in the cliff face that led ultimately to the barracks, she found the bottom of the lift that was meant to enable access to and from the ground.

It might have been helpful, except that of course there was no power, and the lift platform was stuck at the top of the shaft. Remembering how the lift to the War Room had reacted, she wasn't going to try to bring it down with the Force, and trying to climb up and cut her way through seemed like it would also end poorly, so she took a few steps back and examined the actual cliff the lift was built into. It would take some doing, but it was probably climbable.

So, she got started.

It took some doing.

At the top of the cliff, there was nothing but a railing separating her from the courtyard at the top of the base. Maybe three thousand years ago there had been a force field or something more than literally nothing to protect it, but if so, it was the same as all the other parts of the base that required power.

She took a moment, kneeling there next to the railing, recovering her strength. Then she stood, and set out to find the only other living people on the planet, so far as they were aware.

Obi-Wan and Yoda were both in the cantina - again or still, she had no idea. They had dragged a few old bed frames to the middle of the room to act as makeshift chairs, which couldn't have been comfortable at all. At the moment, they were busy eating out of small ration packs.

Shyre realized with a jolt that she was very hungry. "Where did you get those?" she asked, walking up to the pair of Jedi Masters.

Obi-Wan turned to answer, though the sight of her gave him pause. She realized belatedly that she was still without her cloak. She tried not to feel self-conscious. "From the _Tantive_ ," he answered eventually. "When we first disembarked, I brought a pack full of rations off board, since I thought we would all be staying for longer."

"I didn't notice," Shyre said. She waited in expectation, and was rewarded when Obi-Wan dug into a bag at his feet and handed her a ration pack of her own. She gave him a small nod of thanks, then tore open the seal and began to eat.

"You were gone for quite a while," Obi-Wan commented, eying the damage to her armor. "Did you learn anything useful about the area?"

Shyre froze, her dry and chalky meal-bar halfway to her mouth. She'd forgotten, what with the hike and the climb, but… "I need to contact Saery as quickly as possible," she said seriously.

Obi-Wan and Yoda glanced at each other. "Impossible it is, without power," the small green master said. "Transmit a signal, we cannot."

Shyre whispered an old Sith curse, then took a big bite of the meal bar. No reason to stop eating while she thought.

"What did you find?" Obi-Wan pressed while she chewed.

"I can't be certain," Shyre answered when she was able. "But if I am right, then it is catastrophically bad news."

She took a sip from the ration pack's water pouch, then said, "I think Vitiate is here, on Odessen."

* * *

_Coruscant_

Saery's hand drifted to the lightsaber on her belt, hidden under her poncho, but she did not draw it, still mindful of the need to stay inconspicuous.

"Maul," Ahsoka said with some disgust. She spun her sabers and took up a defensive stance. "I see you escaped the siege."

"Escaped?" The intruder, apparently called Maul, let out a hissing laugh. "Lady Tano, I _won_ that battle. Mandalore remains mine." He took a step forward, his mechanical legs ending in clawed feet that looked rather fearsome.

"And yet here you are," Ahsoka said. She retreated deeper into the room - not that there was much further to go.

Maul shrugged off his cloak. Saery could his his face clearly now; he was a Zabrak of red and black. "When I heard you were on Coruscant," he said, "how could I resist the opportunity? Poor Lady Tano, all alone. All your Jedi friends are dead."

Ahsoka and Saery exchanged a confused glance. "I'm standing right here," Saery said.

Maul waved a hand lazily, and attempted to punt Saery backwards with the Force. It didn't take much for her to brace herself and stand firm. Maul glared at her. "Who are you?" he demanded.

"Whatever intelligence led you here was woefully incomplete," Saery informed him coolly, and then gave him a taste of his own medicine, shoving forwards with the Force and knocking Maul clear off his feet and out the open doorway.

"Nice," Ahsoka said appreciatively, and then deactivated her new lightsabers and rushed outside, not wanting to stay trapped in the small room for the inevitable fighting.

Saery followed right behind. "Where can we go?" she asked, not being familiar with modern Coruscant.

"Away from the ship," Ahsoka answered, "and down." She led the way through the crowd, which was doing its best to stay away from the visibly angry half-mechanical Zabrak who was clambering to his feet.

"This ends here!" Maul bellowed, and he ignited a red lightsaber. The crowd of shoppers flipped from anxious to terrified in an instant, a few of them screaming as they fought to run away as fast as possible.

Ahsoka and Saery got swept up in the movement of the crowd, running with the shoppers to the end of the market street. There the stream of bodies dispersed somewhat, with many of the locals finding either alleys to turn into or speeders with which to get away entirely. Ahsoka grabbed Saery's wrist and tugged her off to the left, and the next thing Saery knew, they were jumping down to the next level of Coruscant below.

Ahsoka let go in time for the two of them to land and roll safely, and they took off running, Saery willingly following the young Togruta's lead. As they ran, she pulled out a comlink and contacted Padmé on the _Tantive III_.

"Small change of plans," she said, then paused to follow Ahsoka up to a raised crosswalk. "We won't be coming back to the ship. You should get off the planet as soon as possible. And keep your head down; they may be watching."

"I'll let Bail know," Padmé promised, then ended the call.

Saery caught up to Ahsoka and ran beside her. "Where are we headed?" she asked.

"We were going to acquire another ship anyway," Ahsoka answered. "We're just… accelerating the plan a bit." She cut sideways, and jumped up another level, and Saery thought she might understand. They were taking a long, circular route that would lead them back to the hangars, where they would - well, steal a ship.

She glanced back to see if they were even being followed, but didn't see anything. There was still an ominous uneasy feeling in the Force, though, so she kept running without complaint.

The hangars they were headed back towards were huge, spanning a full kilometer across and several hundreds of levels vertically. They were, after all, where many senators had reserved berths. As they got closer, the streets got wider, cleaner, and less populated, and the sight of two women sprinting at full speed drew more than a few curious glances.

And then, they both drew up short and stopped, because Maul was standing between them and the entrance to the hangars.

"So predictable," he chided, then drew his lightsaber.

"I think we're going to have to fight, Ahsoka," Saery said quietly. She glanced around; there wasn't any obvious surveillance, and not too many people watching, but there was little hope that word of a full-scale lightsaber duel would somehow fail to make its way to Palpatine's ears.

"I think so too," Ahsoka responded, a little sadly. She pulled off her poncho and readied her lightsabers, though she did not ignite them just yet.

Saery did the same, and noted that Maul seemed pleased at this development. Whether they were falling into his trap, or if he just looked forward to the fight, it was hard to judge. In case he had friends they didn't know about, she closed her eyes and stretched out her senses, and found several presences nearby tinged with aggression and anticipation.

"He's not alone," she said, reopening her eyes to watch Maul carefully.

Ahsoka nodded slowly. "Deathwatch," she said. This meant nothing to Saery, and Ahsoka seemed to realize it, because she clarified, "Mandalorians." _That_ certainly meant something. Saery had fought Mandalorians - and fought _with_ Mandalorians - several times in the past.

Maul began to stalk forward, his mechanical legs clanking softly on the street. When he was about ten meters away, he sprang forward and covered the rest of the distance in a single jump.

Two white blades and two purple blades snapped on at the same moment. Maul came down with a roar upon Ahsoka, who had to use both sabers together to block without getting bowled over. Saery used the opening to slip around behind him, and was about to strike when movement to the left caught her eye instead. A Mandalorian - the traditional armor apparently not changing much in three thousand years - had stepped out of hiding and had an arm stretched out. A thick cable shot out and wrapped around her upper arms and chest before she could dodge.

A quick twist of her wrist allowed her to cut the cable before the Mandalorian could tug her off-balance. It took a few more seconds of scrabbling and careful movement - by her free hand and lightsaber respectively - to get free entirely. In that time, Maul had driven Ahsoka back several steps, and five more Mandalorians had made themselves visible.

Saery lunged for Maul's back. The Zabrak turned and deflected her attack, but Ahsoka was able to safely break off and head for the closest Mandalorian. Maul's fighting style was circular and savage, and he didn't seem to have any trouble dealing with both ends of Saery's double saber. Even so, Saery would not have had trouble holding even with him, except for the constant blaster bolts coming in from the Mandalorians that surrounded them. Ahsoka had taken care of one but there were still plenty, and then certainly seemed to want her dead.

To buy some space, Saery focused and shoved Maul back hard with the Force. It didn't work nearly as well this second time, and he only slid back a few meters, but that was good enough. One of the Mandalorians had crept a bit too close, and she dashed right for him. He seemed to realize his mistake and tried to take off with his jetpack, but she reached up her hand and slammed him back down to the ground hard, like a big fist of Force had punched him out of the sky. The next second, she was upon him, and she took off his head as she passed, barely even slowing down as she swung.

Saery Dusklight, Barsen'thor - the so-called Warden of the Order - did not relish open combat, but when it was forced upon her, she wasted no one's time.

She reached the next Mandalorian warrior at the same time as Ahsoka. He turned to deal with the younger Jedi. Saery stabbed him in the back, and he collapsed. And then Maul caught up, and the lightsaber duel began again, except this time there were only a couple of Mandalorians left alive, and this time the two Jedi had their backs to the hangar entrance.

Maul's expression was fierce as he pressed forward. One the fight had moved close enough to the hangars, however, Saery stood firm and refused to be pushed back any further. "Go find us a ship," she said to Ahsoka. "I'll hold him here."

Ahsoka nodded and jumped away, a long elegant leap that brought her directly to the hangar doors. One of the last remaining Mandalorian warriors tried to intercept her, but proved no match for Ahsoka's twin blades of white.

That left just Saery, Maul, and one last Mandalorian who hung back hovering in the air with his jetpack, taking potshots at Saery. Maul looked angry now, probably because he was being blocked from pursuing his intended target. Saery just made sure that, as they maneuvered and circled around each other, she never actually allowed him a clear line to the hangars. She was always there to stand in his way.

The duel stretched on for a couple of minutes. Saery was waiting for the right moment to end it, and trusted that it would be obvious.

The whine of a starship engine drowned out the hisses and sparks of clashing lightsabers, and a moderately-sized freighter swooped down from above. It hovered off to the side, and fired its main turret at the hovering Mandalorian warrior, who was forced into evasive flying.

Saery knew this was her moment, even before she spotted Ahsoka's distinctive coloring through the freighter cockpit viewport. She charged forward, going on a rapid, intense offensive, and Maul stumbled back, distracted by the freighter and surprised by the sudden onslaught. He defended himself well, but Saery had been dueling him for long enough. She had his number. She slipped past his guard and cut off his hand at the forearm, and on the backswing relieved him of one of his mechanical legs. As he reeled in shock and began to fall over, she shoved him away with the Force, causing him to sail halfway down the street.

Job done, Saery took a running leap onto the top of the freighter. The upper hatch popped itself open for her, and she dropped down and joined Ahsoka in the cockpit as quickly as possible.

The young Togruta grinned at her as she piloted the freighter out into the upper atmosphere. "I have good news," she said.

"What?" Saery asked, taking a seat in the co-pilot's chair.

"Our mission isn't a bust after all," Ahsoka said. "Guess what this freighter is hauling?"

Saery took a moment to process this. "You stole a freighter full of secret-base-building supplies?"

"Well, no, not exactly," Ahsoka said. "But we do have weapons and power generators, and that's a good start if nothing else."

"Yes, it is," Saery admitted, then got to work programming the navigation computer to get them back to the planet that only she in all the galaxy could find.


	14. Chapter 13

_**Chapter 13** _

_Odessen_

Shyre's dramatic announcement was met with confused stares.

It was Obi-Wan who took the plunge and asked, "Who or what is Vitiate?"

Shyre sighed, and took another sip of water. "Vitiate is the most powerful Sith you have ever heard of," she said. "In my time, three thousand years ago, he was the Sith Emperor, and already had been for over a thousand years."

"When you call yourself the Emperor's Wrath," Obi-Wan surmised, "this Vitiate is the Emperor you speak of."

"Yes," Shyre said. She thought back to her first day out of the cave on Aloraga. "When we stood before your Council," she said, "Saery told you I was the Sith Emperor's personal enforcer. That's what that title means."

"Not glad are you of this discovery, I sense," Yoda commented.

"Right," Shyre said flatly. She finished her meal bar, then tossed the empty ration box off to the side. "To understand the danger the Emperor poses, you need to understand that his goal is immortality, even at the expense of every other living thing."

"If he is here, on this planet, after three thousand years…" Obi-Wan said. "It seems he has something of the sort already."

"But at a cost," Shyre said. "Vitiate gains power from death. When things die near him, he gets stronger. He gets to live a bit longer, I don't know - I don't know how it works exactly. But he is strongly in favor of war and destruction because these things fuel him."

She began to pace, nervous energy needing an outlet. "Worse, he's capable of draining an entire planet of its life force. I've never seen it for myself, but… Saery has."

"And you let him be your Emperor?" Obi-Wan asked, faintly incredulous.

Shyre stopped, and looked away. "We were fools," she admitted. "The Emperor rarely took an active hand in the administration of his Empire - that's what the Dark Council was for. Few thought to wonder what he was doing with his time. Few got to interact with him directly."

"Except you, as his Wrath," Obi-Wan guessed.

Shyre shook her head slowly. "No - for the majority of my time as his Wrath, I received my instructions through intermediaries. Then, he was struck down by a Jedi, and lost his physical form, at least as far as any of us knew." She scratched her neck. "Saery would be in a better position to explain what happened next. The short of it is, there was enough death for him to recover, and then… a whole business with a whole other Empire that I don't know anything about."

"Then…" Obi-Wan said. "If Vitiate is here, what does that mean for us? Must we evacuate?"

Shyre hesitated. "No. At least not yet. I might be wrong. He might be long dead and gone."

"And if he's not?"

"Then we'd better hope he doesn't feel like draining another planet to recharge, or Palpatine won't be the only Emperor running around we have to worry about," Shyre said, and then she had an idea.

* * *

It was an uncomfortable night spent in the cantina with no power or heat, so it was a good thing that Saery and Ahsoka returned to Odessen before a second local sunset.

Shyre met them on the landing pad, arms crossed, but standing ready to attack if someone she didn't recognize stepped off the freighter she didn't recognize. Thankfully, she spotted Saery's green skin and white hair first.

"Shyre," Saery said in greeting and with mild surprise. "What happened to your cloak?"

"One of the locals disapproved," Shyre said.

"Of your cloak?" Ahsoka asked, distracted by pulling a large crate down the ramp.

"Of me slaughtering his entire colony," Shyre corrected. She looked at the crate as Ahsoka passed. "So you found supplies after all?"

"Some," Saery said. "Mostly weapons, but we should also be able to get this base running again, if we can hook up the generators."

"Let the others worry about that," Shyre said. "You and I need to go for a walk."

Saery looked at Shyre's serious expression for a second, then nodded. "Ahsoka," she called, "get Master Obi-Wan to help you get the power going. Shyre and I will be out for a bit."

"Sure," Ahsoka called back agreeably, and then disappeared down the stairs to the cantina.

Saery turned back to Shyre with raised eyebrows, waiting for an explanation.

Gesturing for the Jedi to follow, Shyre wandered over to the railing and looked out at the landscape of the surrounding area. "I met an old friend here on Odessen," she said.

"You - what?" Saery frowned at her. "What do you mean?"

Shyre drummed her fingers on the railing. "Yesterday, after clearing out the barracks, I made my way outside," she said. "And, by the way, we'll need to plug that hole somehow, or more monsters will get in."

"I'll… make a note of it," Saery said.

"I wandered out a bit further than intended," Shyre continued, "and felt… something." She tried to pick out the route she took to get back to the base, but everything looked different in the daytime, not to mention from high up.

"And felt something," Saery echoed hollowly.

"You're not making this easy," Shyre snapped. "I felt the presence of the Emperor. Vitiate. I felt him here, on Odessen, and he spoke to me."

"You _what_?" Saery exclaimed. She abandoned her dubious demeanour and instead looked at Shyre, eyes sharp and calculating. "Tell me the whole story," she demanded.

Shyre nodded. "As we walk," she said, and she vaulted over the railing and dropped over the cliff. She got to enjoy Saery's startled curse, then landed on the ledge halfway down that she remembered from her climb up the night before. From there she jumped easily down to the ground.

Saery caught up a few seconds later. "I am getting _very tired_ ," the Jedi groused, "of all these long drops and hard landings."

"It's efficient," Shyre said, then turned and started off in the rough direction she thought was right.

The pair walked in silence for a few minutes, though Shyre could feel Saery's struggle to remain patient. In a different context, it would have been highly entertaining.

"I would've expected a lot more shade stalkers," Saery eventually said for the sake of saying something. "Did you really kill them all?"

"All of the ones in the barracks," Shyre confirmed. "I haven't seen any out here." She snorted softly as a thought came to her. "Maybe I wiped out the last of the species."

"Who knows," Saery said, then glanced back at the cliff receding in the distance. "So, where exactly are we going?"

"To where I felt the Emperor," Shyre said, "so you can tell me if I am right, or if I am simply delusional."

"Forgive me for saying so," Saery said, "but I rather hope it's the latter."

Shyre grunted. "Somehow," she said, "I do too."

They were silent for a few more minutes before Saery said, "You said that Vitiate spoke to you. What did he say?"

"Mostly just that it's been a long time," Shyre answered, frowning. "But he called me _his_ Wrath."

"I see," Saery said. "Which just confirms that either it's all in your head, or it really is him. There aren't exactly many other evil spirits who would know to call you that, even dishonestly."

Shyre nodded, glad that Saery had understood so quickly. "Yes, exactly." she said. "Hold a moment." They had reached a particular tall tree that she remembered from her trek back. She jumped up to grab a branch, then swung herself up to the top and looked out. There, in the distance - unless she was mistaken, that was the tall hill she had climbed last evening. "We're going the right way," she called down.

"That's good to hear," Saery said as Shyre hopped back down to the ground.

"If I'm right," Shyre said, "and the Emperor really is here, do you have any ideas on what to do?" She paused for a beat, then added, "Because I do."

"Let's hear yours then," Saery said resignedly.

"We know that Palpatine is a powerful Sith Lord," she said, "who is now calling himself the Emperor. We know that Vitiate is a powerful Sith Lord who once called himself the Emperor. What happens if we put the two of them on the same planet?"

Saery stopped in her tracks and stared at Shyre. "I think you really must be delusional," she breathed. "Why would you ever believe that would be a good idea?"

"They would never work together," Shyre continued blithely. "Palpatine wants to rule the galaxy, but Vitiate just wants to destroy it for his own gain. Best case scenario, they destroy each other."

"And worst case scenario," Saery said, "Vitiate destroys another planet or two, overpowers Palpatine, takes control of the new Empire, and leads the galaxy to its annihilation completely unopposed."

Shyre considered this for a moment. "Yes," she agreed eventually, "that would be the worst case."

"If Vitiate is truly here," Saery said, "then we certainly can't stay. We can find another base more easily than we can protect ourselves from _him._ "

"Perhaps," Shyre said non-committally. She still thought there was some merit to her skeleton of a plan.

Saery sent her a sharp glance and said, "Let's just get going. The sooner we determine the truth, the sooner we can decide how to react."

* * *

"This is it," Shyre said after another standard hour of walking in silence. "This is where I felt him." She was sure now that something strange had happened to draw her this far without her even realizing it - but since the blame probably lay with the Emperor, she wasn't going to wonder too much about it.

Saery walked in a circle around the area, staying alert for odd sensations in the Force. "I don't sense anything," she said.

"I don't either, right now," Shyre admitted. There was nothing out of the ordinary on the rocky slopes of the hill. "Maybe he only comes out at dusk. Or only after killing dozens of shade stalkers."

"Even if we wanted to test that," Saery said, "we haven't seen a single one." She started up to the peak of the hill. "I guess we wait, then."

"Wait?" Shyre repeated. "For dusk?"

"As much as I would like to declare you paranoid and be done with it," Saery said, "the risk is simply too great. We cannot return to the base until we are sure, one way or the other." She knelt down at the top of the hill and closed her eyes.

"So you're going to meditate," Shyre said incredulously.

"Yes," Saery said. "You can go kill innocent wildlife, if you prefer. Maybe it will even help."

Grumbling under her breath about stubborn Jedi, Shyre stalked away from the hill, though she was careful to keep in mind which direction she was going and how to get back. The last thing she wanted was to get lost again.

The problem with killing wildlife was that none of the wildlife wanted to get anywhere near her, and she certainly wasn't going to start chasing down little critters that, from the sound of things, were the size of her foot.

She spent about a quarter of another standard hour circling around the hill, then gave up and started the climb to rejoin Saery. "No luck so far," she called up as she neared the top. "How about for you?"

But, Saery did not respond.

When Shyre reached the peak, she saw that the Jedi was still kneeling, eyes closed. She was sweating, and her fingers were clutching the front of her robes, as if in fear or pain. Her green skin seemed a bit sallow, or whatever the Mirialan equivalent of pale was. Shyre snapped her fingers in front of her face, and got no reaction.

"Wonderful," she said out loud, then sat down to wait for something new to happen.

Her guess was that Saery was having a vision - maybe a vision of Vitiate, though Shyre couldn't sense her former Emperor anywhere near the hill. It didn't seem fair, that the Jedi should have the vision while the Emperor's Wrath had to sit and wait, but she knew the only person who would be receptive to that complaint was herself, so she stayed quiet.

It was a few more minutes for Saery's eyes to snap open. She looked around wildly for a moment, then focused her gaze on Shyre, who was sitting casually, leaned up against a rock.

"Welcome back," she drawled.

"Bad news," Saery said. "You're not delusional." Her voice was a bit thin.

"You saw him, then?" Shyre said, satisfied at being right but also worried about the consequences.

"I saw him," Saery acknowledged grimly. "I spoke to him. We need to get back to the base."

Shyre stood. "Are we to evacuate after all?"

"I'm not sure," Saery said evasively. "But we've wasted enough time out here as it is. I need to hear if Obi-Wan and Yoda came up with any decent plan while I was gone."

"I never got around to asking them," Shyre admitted. She carefully jumped down the hill, then waited for Saery at the bottom. "And what of Vitiate, in the short term?"

"Nothing we can do," Saery said, peering out towards the cliff where the base was hidden. "Continue as if he isn't here and hope for the best, until we think of a better idea."

Shyre frowned. That was a markedly different attitude than the Jedi had displayed on the way up. What had she really seen in her vision?

Nevertheless, the two of them started the walk back to base.

Shortly after, Saery's comlink chirped. She pulled it out and answered. "Yes?"

"Master Dusklight." It was Ahsoka's voice. "You will be pleased to hear that Master Obi-Wan and I have managed to hook the generator into the base's electrical systems. Simple functionality is restored."

"That's excellent news," Saery said, sounding appropriately pleased. "Good work, to both of you."

"Some of the computer banks even turned on," Ahsoka continued. "But access is blocked behind an authorization code."

"As it should be," Saery said. "Shyre and I will return soon, and I can see if my old code still works."

"Understood," Ahsoka said. "See you soon."

"And if not?" Shyre asked after Saery ended the call. "Does your Jedi training include slicing, too?"

"Mine certainly didn't," Saery said. "But the computer systems are the least of our concerns at the moment."

Right about then, there was a tremor in the Force, a darkness in the sky that Shyre could feel even from hundreds of kilometers away. She knew instantly what it was. She stopped and stared up at the evening sky, searching for the tiny speck that would be the approaching ship.

"What is it?" Saery asked, oblivious to the danger but not to Shyre's sudden tension. "What's wrong?"

"You brought a friend," she informed the Jedi brusquely. "You were followed, or tracked. Either way." She looked Saery in the eyes. "Either way. Palpatine is here."


	15. Chapter 14

_**Chapter 14** _

_Odessen_

Saery was going to protest, at first. She didn't sense anything, and it seemed farfetched enough to be a joke on Shyre's part, albeit a very poor one. But she saw nothing but absolute sincerity on the Sith's face, and she remembered several days before, when they had first arrived on Coruscant, and knew that Shyre really could sense something she could not.

So. Perhaps Shyre would get her Emperor showdown after all. She scrunched her eyes shut for a second and tried to convince herself that the deep laughter in the back of her mind was just her imagination.

"We need to move," Shyre said urgently, breaking Saery out of her reflection. "He only just entered the system, so maybe we can get back to the base before he lands. We'll have to run."

Silently admonishing herself for standing uselessly for even just a few seconds, Saery nodded. "Let's go," she said, and the two of them took off, sprinting across the rocky Odessen landscape. Both knew where they were going; Shyre had traveled the route before, and Saery knew the area from her time as the Alliance Commander. Things were not exactly the same, but with no people around, the terrain had not changed so drastically that she couldn't find her way home.

About halfway, her comlink chirped again. "Master," Ahsoka's voice said, "One of the computers started going off. I think it's saying there's another ship inbound, but I don't-"

"Confirmed," Saery interrupted, not wanting to waste time. "Hostile ship inbound. Palpatine is coming."

Ahsoka did not respond for a few long seconds. Then she said, "Acknowledged. We'll prepare as best we can."

"I think he'll make it there first," Shyre warned as they ran.

"How do you know?" The ground leveled out a bit, and Saery picked up a bit of speed.

"He's not exactly hard to track," Shyre said, keeping pace.

An image of an always-active Sith radar system flashed through Saery's mind, but she banished it for being tonally inappropriate. Instead, she breathed, letting the Force speed her movements and guide her way.

They were coming up on the cliff face now, but so was Palpatine's shuttle, zooming right above them. Its engines were loud, screaming through the sky, perhaps as a show of dominance. However, instead of flying ahead and attacking the base, or even just landing on it, the shuttle began to lower down to the ground - to between the two running women and the cliff.

The pair stopped running. The way was blocked.

With a hiss and some overly dramatic steam, the shuttle's hatch opened, and a ramp lowered to the ground. A figure, shrouded in a black cloak and hood, began to descend, followed by two ranks of guards adorned in red robes and helmets that obscured their faces. The guards spread out in a half-circle facing them, while the central man in the black cloak, who was assuredly Palpatine, simply stood and observed them for a moment. His hood was pulled too low to see his eyes, but his mouth was definitely not smiling.

"So." Palpatine spoke with a kind of aggressive dramatic emphasis, as if asserting his Imperial sovereignty through tone of voice alone. "Darth Shyre. I am displeased to find you alive."

"My lord," Shyre responded with a veneer of deference. "If you did not want me to kill your apprentice, you should not have ordered me to kill your apprentice."

"And now you are taking up with Jedi," Palpatine said with a sneer. He made no visible movement, but suddenly Saery could feel his attention on her. It wasn't a pleasant sensation. "Rest assured," the Emperor said, "relics from an age long past will not stop me. I will wipe you out, you and any other Jedi who have manage to survive."

"You're welcome to try," Saery said.

" _So eager to fight,"_ a voice in the back of her mind whispered. " _Good…"_ Saery ignored it.

A small sensation in the Force, an assurance - she knew without looking that Ahsoka, Obi-Wan, and Yoda were all aware of what was happening. They were probably watching from the railing at the top of the cliff. She trusted them to use their judgment about when to intercede.

Palpatine raised his arms. "I'm afraid, Jedi," he said, "that you are now obsolete." And Saery tried to steel herself, or dodge somehow, but when the lightning arced from Palpatine's fingers and struck her in the chest, there was nothing she could do. She fell back, screaming, as the furious pain coursed through her whole body, her muscles spasming uncontrollably, and-

And… it stopped.

She looked up, gasping, and saw an orange and black lightsaber blade blocking Palpatine's lightning. Shyre was standing over her, face hard, eyes burning.

Slowly, Saery gathered her legs under her, and pushed up to standing. She was still tingly all over, and it hurt a little to breathe, but she would be fine. Shyre had saved her.

That was an odd thought, so it echoed around in her head a second time: Darth Shyre had saved her life. Directly. As an act of defiance against another Sith Lord.

The lightning stopped. Shyre lowered her blade slightly, but kept it at the ready.

"Well," Saery said, then paused to cough. She tried again. "Back where I come from, I saw one Sith kill another in an instant with a single blast of lightning. You're not actually that strong, by comparison."

Palpatine's mouth tightened in displeasure. "Enough of this," he spat. "If you wish to die side by side, then so be it." The self-proclaimed Emperor then shrugged off his cloak, revealing stately robes, also mostly in black, and a heavily wrinkled, disfigured face.

"You're uglier than the last time I saw you," Shyre commented brazenly.

A black lightsaber hilt appeared in Palpatine's hand, and his red blade snapped into being. He hissed, and then jumped forward at them, surprisingly spry for an old man. Saery reminded herself that it was never wise to underestimate a Sith Lord.

Shyre met him head-on, exchanging a few blows while Saery hurriedly drew her own saber. She noticed that the red-robed guards were moving to encircle them, but otherwise were taking no actions. She decided to leave them be for now, and joined in the duel against the Emperor.

Palpatine's movements were erratic and jerky. It was an odd fighting style that kept her off-balance; he attacked at angles she didn't expect, left openings she wasn't in a position to take advantage of. Worse, her limbs felt sluggish and weak, more than could be blamed on just Palpatine's lightning - Palpatine was also actively doing something with the Force that made it difficult to even hold her own against him. She tried to keep her mind clear, but it was like Palpatine's dark presence was suffocating her own power.

Shyre did not seem to suffer from this. Her strikes were as fast and strong as Saery could remember, but she was still not quite able to strike down the other Sith Lord. A bit of doubt crept into Saery's mind - maybe Shyre was holding back?

The three broke apart for a brief respite, circling each other warily. An odd, thin mist had collected on the ground; the others paid it no mind, but Saery thought she knew what it was. She gripped her lightsaber tighter and stepped forward to resume fighting. Maybe they would win fast enough, and it wouldn't be an issue.

And maybe Palpatine would decide to surrender. It was about as likely.

There was an interruption - a flash of blue, of green, and, yes, of white. The remaining three Jedi had arrived. They wasted no time, setting upon Palpatine's red guards in an instant.

"No-" Saery tried to call, but it was too late. The guards had stood no chance against three Jedi who were showing no mercy. Soon, they were eliminated, and Palpatine found himself surrounded by four angry Jedi and one angry Sith, united in purpose against him.

The mist began to swirl at Saery's feet. "No," she whispered, "no, I don't-"

* * *

An explosive force knocked Shyre back and off her feet before she could register what was happening. She popped back up quickly, ready to defend against Palpatine's attack, but Palpatine had not been the source of the shockwave. Saery had.

Saery, who was now hovering a few centimeters over the ground, her eyes glowing red.

As the dust from the shockwave settled, so did the Mirialan. She deactivated her purple double-bladed lightsaber and placed it back on her belt, and simply looked at Palpatine.

"What are you?" Palpatine growled, staring back at her.

"I am what you aspire to be," Saery said, but it was not Saery's voice. It was a deeper voice that echoed with power and darkness. It was the voice of the true Sith Emperor.

Vitiate had taken possession of Saery's body.

A chill fell over the small battlefield. Ahsoka and Obi-Wan scrambled to their feet and watched in confusion. Yoda just looked somber - maybe he actually understood what was going on.

And Shyre… Shyre bowed her head.

That was it, then. Her plan to pit Vitiate and Palpatine against each other had somehow come to fruition, through no effort of her own. She had imagined a more calculated encounter, with herself and the others standing by to perhaps defeat the victor of the Emperor-on-Emperor struggle… that didn't seem likely, at the moment. Especially not when they had already lost Saery.

Vitiate had claimed her as his new host, making Saery the Voice of the Emperor - or so she would be called, back in the days of the Sith Empire. This was how Vitiate used to conduct his business - by possessing hosts, keeping his true body safe somewhere secret, out in the galaxy.

Shyre couldn't claim to be an expert on the exact mechanics of the Emperor's Voice, but as the Wrath, she had had occasion to learn a few things. The Voice was a vessel, and the power within was Vitiate's. He could leverage his full strength at his opponents if he so chose, or at least a significant portion of it. If things went poorly and the Voice was killed, Vitiate himself would be cut adrift to either find another body to possess, or to wait around and recover. Apparently he had been waiting around on Odessen for over three thousand years, not strong enough to leave the planet and stuck without a host, at least until she and Saery had come stumbling around.

But the worst part… As far as Shyre knew, it was not possible to separate Vitiate from his host by any means short of death. Even Vitiate himself could not release his Voice, so long as it remained alive. That was the crux of Darth Baras's plan, all those years ago - Shyre's former master had trapped the Emperor's Voice in secret and then claimed to serve as the replacement. Shyre, in one of her first missions as the new Emperor's Wrath, had been ordered to kill the Emperor's Voice herself in order to free Vitiate's spirit.

All of which meant that Saery was as good as dead. There was already no more Saery. Just her body, in service to Vitiate. The Voice of the Emperor.

There was an explosion of light and sound. Palpatine had his arms outstretched, his face a mask of rage, and he was channeling powerful lightning across at Saery. And Saery - no, Vitiate - simply stood there, arms out in a welcoming pose, entirely unfazed as the lightning crackled around her body, seemingly to no effect.

"You're going to have to do better than that," she - he - said.

Of the three remaining Jedi, it was the youngest who first seized the opportunity. Taking up her lightsabers - brilliant white blades that she must have constructed during her trip with Saery - Ahsoka charged at Palpatine, even as Obi-Wan called for her to stop. She made it halfway before she froze in place. Saery had a hand stretched towards her - _Vitiate_ was holding her in place with the Force.

"It's impolite to interrupt," he said, his deep voice dissonant coming from Saery's thin female body. He flicked his wrist like he was swatting away a buzzing gnat, and Ahsoka went flying backwards, straight into Obi-Wan, until the both of them smashed into a rock several dozen meters back.

Keeping well clear out of reach of both Emperors, Shyre began to slowly circle around, until it was safe to break away to where the two poor Jedi were lying on the ground, groaning softly in pain. It didn't look like they had sustained any serious injuries, though, so she just nudged them with her foot to get them back up.

At the center of it all, among the corpses of the Imperial red guard, there now only stood Palpatine, Vitiate… and one short, green Jedi.

"Master Yoda," Ahsoka gasped, noticing at the same time, halfway to her feet.

Yoda was standing between the two Sith, his back to the other Jedi, but when he spoke, his voice was clear. "Unwelcome, you both are," he said, "to rule the galaxy. 'Emperor' you both claim - yet the Dark Side, your only support is." He raised his hands, and the wind began to swirl around the three of them. "Fall, you shall," he said, "and free, the galaxy will be."

Apparently, Shyre thought, the little Jedi Master didn't subscribe to the "let them fight then defeat the winner" plan.

Palpatine and Vitiate looked at each other for a moment. Then, Vitiate pointed at Yoda and unleashed lightning of his own, a thick beam of crackling energy that more than put Palpatine's efforts to shame - but it did not make contact with the small Jedi Master. Yoda was in the air, flipping a few times, well out of the way of the blast. When he landed, he transitioned immediately into a heaving gesture, and a large boulder off to the side was levitated into the air, rotating slowly. Then Yoda shifted his stance and thrust his little arm out, and the boulder went barreling through the air towards Palpatine.

"It's not safe here," Obi-Wan murmured, and Shyre had to concur. When three old masters of the Force were locked in a no-holds-barred ultimate battle, it seemed prudent to stay a good distance away.

The three of them - Obi-Wan, Ahsoka, and Shyre - retreated a few dozen meters, until they no longer felt at risk of being struck by a wayward rock or burst of lightning. Then, Ahsoka reared on Shyre. "What happened to Master Dusklight?" she demanded fiercely. "What did you do on your 'walk'?"

Shyre debated the merits of telling the whole story, and decided it wasn't worth it. "What you need to know," she said bluntly, "is that Saery has been possessed by Vitiate, the Sith Lord who was Emperor three and a half thousand years ago. It is permanent and fatal. She is dead."

Ahsoka stared at her, then rocked back a bit. "But- it happened so quickly-"

"We need to focus," Obi-Wan admonished gently. "Is there nothing we can do to help Master Yoda?"

A loud creaking sound drew their attention. Palpatine's shuttle was being lifted into the air, with Yoda on top of it. The diminutive master leapt down, his green lightsaber flashing, but they were too far away to follow in detail whatever happened next.

The shuttle, for its part, came crashing down, temporarily discarded.

"I don't think there is," Shyre said. "That contest is beyond any of us."

"Are you not the Emperor's Wrath?" Obi-Wan demanded. "As I understood it, your Sith Empire's strongest warrior! This should be your opportunity to excel, not to scamper away to the sidelines!"

This blatant hypocrisy was just too much to ignore. "I am Sith, not suicidal," she snapped. "If you want throw yourself back into that maelstrom, you are more than welcome to. I prefer to remain standing." The ground trembled, as if to punctuate her words.

"And what then?" Obi-Wan yelled, to be heard over the cacophony. "If your Emperor wins, will he welcome you back with open arms? Is that what you want, _Emperor's Wrath_?"

"No!" Shyre yelled back. "Maybe you forgot, but I no longer hold any loyalty to him! I want him destroyed as much as you do- probably more!"

A tree whizzed by over their heads, ripped from who knows where and deflected away just as casually.

"And yet here you stand," Obi-Wan said, "ensuring his victory through your inaction! At the very least, I would have thought you'd want to avenge the death of your friend!"

"My friend?" Shyre repeated, her argument derailed by her surprise at the term. "You mean- Saery?"

"I am not a Sith," Obi-Wan said, "but if I were, I would draw on my fury and stop at nothing to strike down her murderer."

"Master!" Ahsoka said softly, shocked to hear those words coming from the Jedi Master's mouth.

"I am the Emperor's Wrath," Shyre said almost automatically. "My fury is not my own."

"Isn't it?" Obi-Wan said.

The two of them stared at each other for several long seconds. Several lightning bolts lanced out from the ongoing battle and more or less disintegrated some nearby rocks.

Shyre turned away, her hands curled into fists. "If you intend to be useful," she said curtly, "see to Palpatine. He must not escape either." She drew her lightsaber, and took a few slow steps toward the battle. A whirlwind surrounded the three masters, with dust and debris obscuring her view. All she knew for sure was that all three combatants still stood, because the death of any one of them would have been obvious in the Force.

Emperor's Wrath? No. This was no mission. She was following no orders. She wanted to destroy Vitiate herself - for her own sake.

"I am my own wrath," she said, and charged forward into the storm.


	16. Chapter 15

_**Chapter 15** _

_Odessen?_

Saery was standing in a void.

"Not this again," she said out loud.

"You should be more gracious," a deep voice said from behind her. "It's been such a long time."

She sighed. "Hello again, Valkorion." She turned and observed her companion, who looked exactly like she expected - a stately middle-aged human man, wearing regal robes of white and gold. This was the visage of Valkorion, the Eternal Emperor of Zakuul.

This was Vitiate.

And if she was here, in this void, talking to him, then Vitiate was back in her head - or worse.

"Where was I?" she asked, frowning as she realized that the answer seemed foggy and distant. "I think… I was in a battle. I have to get back, I have to fight-"

"Do not worry," Vitiate said casually. "I am taking care of it."

Saery stared at him for a moment, then let it go for the time being. If that was true - if Vitiate was controlling her body - then there was nothing she could do in the moment to change it.

Instead, she looked around at the featureless void. "Last time I was here," she said, "you put me through a series of visions and scenarios, to 'test' me or whatever. Do I not rate the full experience this time?"

Vitiate chuckled dryly. "There is no need." He began to walk, tracing a circle around her. The lack of any other detail in the void to anchor her perspective somehow made this even more disorienting. "When we first encountered each other, all those long years ago, I knew you were meant for greatness. I foresaw your destiny. One day, you would stand as Emperor of the Galaxy."

"I remember," Saery said, "all the little hints that I was supposed to claim the Eternal Throne. But that was never an option."

"No indeed," Vitiate said. "I agree. The Eternal Throne was never your destiny after all." He suddenly spun on his heels and reversed the direction of his circling. "I saw your future, but I admit, I misjudged the time frame. A forgivable mistake, I believe."

"Very little of what you do is forgivable," Saery said.

Vitiate clasped his hands together. "And so here we are. Millennia after millennia I sat and waited for the strength to begin my conquest anew, but I never expected my old predictions to be vindicated quite so readily. Now, I can reclaim my place as Emperor with you as my Voice, and all of my old plans can recommence."

"That's not going to happen," Saery said.

Vitiate chuckled again, a colder laugh this time. "You bluff well, little Jedi," he said. "But we are in your mind. We both know there is nothing you can do."

Saery turned away, which was less effective than it should have been thanks to Vitiate's circling. "I'll take some of those visions now," she said.

"You think your resistance has meaning," Vitiate said. "You are wrong. I have already won."

Ignoring him, Saery knelt down. Did it make any sense to meditate when she was already trapped inside her own mind? She was going to do it regardless.

So - she had been here before. Last time, it was after Arcann murdered Valkorion, driving Vitiate's spirit into the closest, most convenient host - the captive Saery Dusklight. And then Arcann had placed her in carbonite, to seal away his father and remove him, and his host, from the equation.

She hadn't freed herself, that time. When Lana had woken her from the carbonite, Vitiate was in her head but not in control. Maybe he had never fully possessed her at all. He must not have done, because later he left her of his own volition. So, that wasn't helpful - it told her nothing about how to get out of her current predicament. From the sound of things, Vitiate had possessed her entirely this time, which mean there was a whole different set of rules in play.

She wasn't sure what they were, but she was certainly willing to experiment.

First, and perhaps most important: Did she still have her own connection to the Force? As she knelt there tuning out Vitiate's deep voice, she focused inward even further, searching for the part of herself deep inside that sang in the presence of life. She felt it whispering back to her, wordless assurances that things would be okay.

She felt better already. The Jedi always liked to trust the Force - she was very willing to trust it even now.

Full of renewed hope, she expanded her experiment, and tried to sense Vitiate.

It wasn't difficult. As soon as she stretched her senses out towards him, she found a roiling mass of darkness and death strong enough for her to wonder whether it was possible to vomit in this constructed mindscape. Surely her strong nausea was just simulated?

Regardless, she took deep, careful breaths - another simulated need, surely; there was no actual air inside her mind - and steadied her senses, to learn as much as she could about the former Sith Emperor, from this vantage point that few others would ever have had.

The "core" of Vitiate, or what she could sense of him, seemed to be contained in the apparition that was still walking around nearby. There were also thick tendrils, however, that extended out from that core, many of them stretching out in various directions towards destinations she could not see.

One of them was connected to her.

She shivered, unhappy about this direct evidence of Vitiate's control over her.

She was actually surprised that Vitiate's essence seemed so small. This was the Sith Emperor, after all, or the Eternal Emperor if you asked the people of Zakuul. He was effectively immortal. Possibly literally so; she supposed it was hard to know for sure as long as he still clung to his shadowy existence. It seemed strange, almost backwards, that his power did not stretch out endlessly to the "horizon" in this void.

On the other hand, she reminded herself, he had spent over three thousand years lying in wait, alone on Odessen. That would drain anyone's reserves a bit low.

He was not talking at her anymore, perhaps realizing that she was not listening and saving himself the effort. He was still circling, though, a very exact, almost robotic pattern. Perhaps most of his attention was focused outward, on the fight that was probably still ongoing. Of course, it was difficult to track the passage of time in the void. For all she could tell, Vitiate could have possessed her anywhere from minute ago to an hour ago. It was all the same in the void.

So, she was here in the void with Vitiate, and Vitiate was not paying any attention to her. Could she take advantage of this? She almost reached out to touch him as he walked around her in endless circles, but decided against it at the last moment. It was possible he would notice something like that, and then would return to pay her another visit. Putting aside how annoying it would be to deal with him talking to her some more, she wanted him to stay focused outward for another reason, too - namely, if he was busy fighting, then distracting him might cause him to lose the fight. It was hard to root for the Sith Emperor, but Vitiate losing would most likely mean her own death, so for the time being, she had to hope he was doing well.

Come to think of it, that was a pretty big indicator of Vitiate's current weakness, too. In the past, Vitiate had controlled not just one Voice but two, separately and independently, in completely different sections of the galaxy. She remembered telling Shyre about it in the Jedi Temple, before everything had fallen apart. Now Vitiate couldn't even split his attention between a fight and a conversation properly.

But, because of Vitiate's nature, he was only ever going to get stronger from here. If she was going to take advantage of his weakness, it would have to be soon.

Which was great in theory, but… what could she do?

She relaxed and stretched out with the Force again, observing Vitiate's dark form beside her. Those tendrils stretching everywhere seemed important - maybe she could cut some? But, even if she'd had her lightsaber with her there in the void - after double-checking, she confirmed that she did not - she doubted it would have had any effect. The tendrils were not anything that existed in a physical sense, or even a pseudo-physical sense in the artificial environment of her mind. They were just tethers of Dark Side energy, connecting Vitiate to the whole of Saery's being.

She stopped, and rewound her mind to replay those last thoughts again. The tendrils coming out of Vitiate… were just tethers of Dark Side energy.

She knew tethers of the Dark Side. She'd seen them before. Most recently, she had saved Padmé from a tether connecting her to Anakin. All it took was one powerful and exhausting shielding ritual to break the tether - the one, lone tether, which by itself was about a hundred times thinner than any one of Vitiate's tendrils.

She put a hand on her chest, over where the tendril connecting to her pseudo-physical form passed into her body. Could she shield… herself?

It would be particularly difficult to break a tether as strong as Vitiate's, but maybe, in theory…

But if she did - if she did, would it even matter? The tendril attached to her "self" was only one out of dozens extending out from Vitiate's core essence. If he even noticed, she had to figure it would be trivial for him to break through her shield and just connect to her again. And what good would it do, to save her pseudo-physical self from his connection? Would it free her from his control? Judging by all the tendrils extending elsewhere, she had to conclude that it would not.

But the only option that left was… attempting to shield Vitiate himself.

Which sounded crazy, no matter how many times she repeated it to herself.

If, in theory, she managed to shield Vitiate's actual core essence, then, in theory, every single one of his tendrils would be broken. And then, in theory, she would be free of his control.

For as long as she managed to maintain the shield. Assuming she managed to form it in the first place.

It was, without a doubt, a very long shot. But, on the other hand… it was the best plan she had.

She took a deep, calming breath, never mind that breathing was irrelevant in the void. She thought back to the memory of helping Padmé, and before that, long ago, helping all those Jedi connected to Lord Vivicar, beginning with her own old master, Yuon Par. None of those previous examples would be as difficult or as taxing as the challenge that lay before her now, but her success in each case gave her the confidence to try.

Another deep breath. She centered herself, and allowed her anxiety to slip away. She allowed herself to focus only on the steps necessary to form the shield she needed.

To an outside observer - which in this case could only have been Vitiate, if he had been paying attention - she was merely quiet and still for a good long while. The preparations for the shielding technique were all internal, as she carefully shaped her power with the Force into a protective sheath that would maintain its purpose even outside of herself, but still maintained by her own will.

Of course, in this case it wasn't being used outside of herself at all, from a certain perspective. Maybe that would give her the edge she needed.

After what felt like an eternity of meditation, she was ready. Carefully, without dislodging her inner calm, she stood, and took a few steps forward. Vitiate was still maintaining his circle, so she simply waited for him to cycle around. When he came close enough, she simply placed one hand on his forehead and the other on his chest. And then, she pushed.

A glimmering cocoon, visible only in the same sense that his tendrils were, formed around Vitiate, trapping his essence inside. His dozens of tendrils were broken, each and every one; the lengths melted away into nothing while the remnant stubs reflexively slammed against the interior of the cocoon, trying to break out.

Vitiate's eyes suddenly focused on her. He was paying attention to her now.

"What have you done?" he roared, lunging forward, but all of his strength did not budge the shield. He remained in place, unable to exert his influence over her. "What have you _done_!?"

But before Saery could even think of an answer, she felt herself drifting away. Since she had a pretty good idea where she was going, she did not resist.

* * *

When she opened her eyes, her real eyes in her real body, she was at first unsure that it wasn't just another dream. If so, it was a dangerous one. She was locking lightsabers with Shyre, her own purple sparking against the Sith's orange and black. Shyre's eyes were bright yellow and full of hate. Behind Shyre, she caught just a glimpse of five lightsabers in four colors whirling around in a deadly dance.

"Shyre," she managed to say.

Shyre's eyes widened, and she relented immediately. "Saery?" she whispered, or maybe more than a whisper, because Saery heard it over the sound of pitched combat very nearby.

That was about all she had time to process before her vision went gray and she collapsed to the ground.


	17. Chapter 16

_**Chapter 16** _

_Odessen_

Shyre wasn't sure how she'd noticed the change in Saery's eyes. She still wasn't sure she believed it. She didn't understand how it could be possible.

But as she looked at the Jedi's unconscious body at her feet, and as she _sensed_ the Mirialan in the Force, she had to admit there was no mistake. That was Saery, actually Saery, and not the Sith Emperor she had been dueling for all those exhausting few minutes.

This flew in the face of everything she knew about the Voice of the Emperor. It wasn't supposed to be possible for a host to… what had Saery even done? Broken free? Bucked Vitiate off like a belligerent bronco? Whatever the case, she couldn't sense the Sith Emperor around anywhere, and she wasn't going to waste any time in case he came back.

She knelt down beside Saery and double-checked for vital signs, even though she could feel her in the Force. It didn't hurt to be thorough. Saery was breathing and had a pulse, so that was good enough for now.

In that case… she levitated the Jedi's body, and proceeded to move her away from the battle still raging on behind her. She didn't get Saery very far, though, before she had to break off to block an attack from Palpatine, who had noticed her distraction. Saery tumbled the short distance to the ground. Oh well; she'd be fine.

Shyre had more pressing matters now, like defeating the current self-proclaimed Emperor once and for all.

She was a little surprised that he was still standing. While she had taken on Vitiate by herself, Palpatine had had to contend with the likes of Yoda, Obi-Wan, and Ahsoka all at the same time. None of them were fighting at full capacity, though - beyond just their own exhaustion, Palpatine was also using the Dark Side of the Force to hamper their movement. It wasn't a technique she'd ever encountered before, and maybe, someday, she'd be able to try it for herself.

In the meantime, though, she attacked Palpatine with renewed vigor, encouraged by the mysterious but altogether welcome recovery of Saery. She was not hampered by the Dark Side the way the Jedi were. She was only strengthened by it. She was the Wrath - that would always be true, no matter who she fought for.

The Jedi all seemed to retreat a bit, perhaps taking the opportunity to catch their breath. She wasn't surprised; Yoda and Ahsoka especially were highly active fighters, jumping around every which way as they fought. Yoda used it to make up for his smaller stature, and to take advantage of the same, bouncing up and off the environment to attack from unexpected angles.

Ahsoka, meanwhile, was more naturally athletic, and seemed to excel in short bursts, after which she would bound away for a moment before leaping forward to renew the conflict. Shyre had noticed this earlier, when they fought on Coruscant, what felt like ages ago but was actually only a few days. Ahsoka struggled when forced to defend herself against a consistent onslaught with no escape. On Coruscant, with only Anakin to protect her, Shyre had managed to outmatch and disarm her. Here, against Palpatine, Obi-Wan or Yoda were always there to step in and cover her retreat.

Obi-Wan himself was also a fascinating fighter, especially compared to the others. He rarely ever attacked, but was practically a brick wall of defense, even protecting the others if they left themselves open. So, while none of them had managed to do much to Palpatine, neither had he managed to harm any of them. A stalemate, of a sorts.

Enter Shyre.

Even Palpatine, powerful Sith Lord that he was, could not keep up the fight forever. Shyre drove him backwards, closer to his shuttle, which had been shifted around a bit but was otherwise unscathed. He was trying to throw whatever random junk was at hand at her between lightsaber strikes, but Shyre didn't allow him much opportunity, lashing out whenever she saw him begin to focus on another makeshift projectile. Moreover, she soon felt Obi-Wan behind her, and realized that the Jedi Master was positioning himself to defend her from these attacks, deflecting away rocks and debris with his blade or with the Force.

Trusting the Jedi Master to defend her, she abandoned all pretense of defence and went on a full offensive, trapping the Emperor back against his shuttle. Just when she was about to move in for the kill, however, Palpatine unleashed a powerful blast of the Force; it didn't hurt at all, but it did knock all four of them back several meters.

Shyre rolled to her feet in time to watch the old man jump up and over the shuttle to the far side. At first she thought he was just trying to run on foot, but then she heard the whirr of the shuttle's ramp closing, and she understood. Palpatine had realized that he was beaten, and he was so desperate to escape he was trying to fly away.

The shuttle lifted off from the ground. Shyre reached out her hand and extended her will through the Force, and grabbed at the shuttle, trying to hold it in place.

Its engines whined, and it began to pull away. Shyre, for all her strength, could not beat the powerful propulsion of a top-of-the-line space vessel. Still, she gave it her all, dropping her lightsaber and reaching out with both hands now, desperate to stop the shuttle in its tracks.

More hands joined hers in the air. Obi-Wan, beside her, was doing the same, lending his strength to hers, trying to keep the shuttle from escaping. On her other side, Ahsoka also contributed her part, and the three of them together managed to bring the shuttle to stop.

Before she could feel triumphant, there was a roar of heat and light - Palpatine had the engines on full now, and began pulling away again, even as the backdraft blasted right into Shyre and the Jedi. At the shuttle's current distance, the heat was uncomfortable, but not truly dangerous, so it would not stop her. Still, though, Palpatine was getting away.

Yoda stepped up, and raised his arms.

About a hundred meters into the sky, the shuttle stopped.

Shyre grinned fiercely as she refocused, clenching her hands into fists as she worked to pull the shuttle back down to the ground. The thrust from the shuttle's engines was significant, but with the four of them working together, they were stronger. Slowly, Palpatine's ship wobbled, and began to descend.

Then, a small explosion rocked the shuttle, and it began to spin. That hadn't been any of them, as far as Shyre could tell - maybe the shuttle had been more damaged than she'd thought, during the earlier battle. It had, after all, been tossed around with the Force once or twice. Or maybe Palpatine had just pushed it too hard in his desperation to escape the grip of the Force.

Either way, the shuttle stopped providing nearly as much resistance - and with three Jedi and a Sith all pulling down as hard as they could, the shuttle was not long for the sky. It went careening down from the air, corkscrewing around thanks to its uneven thrust, then smashed into the ground a couple hundred meters distant.

Before the sound had even faded from the air, Shyre had her lightsaber in her hand again.

"Is he- is he dead?" Ahsoka asked.

"Remember rule one," Shyre said, knowing at least Obi-Wan would understand, then took off running for the crashed shuttle.

Before she got there, the shuttle's cockpit window exploded out with a burst of lightning. Palpatine, the Emperor, staggered out onto the nose of the ship. He was visibly hurt - bleeding from multiple cuts, and favoring his left arm. He glared at her with an expression of such hatred, it would have stopped a lesser individual in their tracks. Shyre just relished it, and jumped up onto the shuttle's nose to stand in his way.

"You," Palpatine growled, "are weak, and a traitor to the Sith. I will enjoy your utter destruction."

"You're getting a bit ahead of yourself, aren't you?" Shyre said, holding out her orange and black blade to bar his progress. "There's only one thing left in this galaxy for you to enjoy."

He broke to the left, trying to jump off the ship before Shyre could attack him. She didn't even try, however, and just watched him leap. It wasn't a problem.

Yoda was there. And halfway to the ground, Palpatine suddenly reversed direction, rebounding off the Jedi Master's push in the Force, and flew back up towards Shyre. She caught him, grabbing him by the neck of his robes, and swung him around, slamming him down onto the shuttle's hull. Then she aimed carefully, leveling her lightsaber with his nose, and took just the smallest of moments to enjoy his expression of fear and defeat before thrusting her lightsaber forward, putting a hole in his face and brain both.

A heartbeat passed. Then Palpatine's body exploded in a burst of Dark Side energy, throwing Shyre backwards off the shuttle. She landed hard and rolled to a stop, her ears ringing, but satisfied that the job was, in fact, done. She could feel the aftershocks not just physically, but in the Force, as well.

Emperor Palpatine was no more.

She pushed herself to her feet and brushed the dust of dead Sith off her armor. "I didn't get to finish my line," she complained to the closest Jedi, who happened to be Obi-Wan.

He just stared at her. "What?"

"I said, 'There's only one thing left for you to enjoy,' and after stabbing him I was going to finish with, 'Death,'" Shyre explained. "It was dramatic."

He shook his head slowly. "Just when I think I have you figured out," he said.

"I'm a Sith," Shyre said. "It's my job to keep you Jedi on your toes."

Any further discussion was interrupted by Ahsoka rushing past them. "Master Dusklight!" the Togruta called, and dropped to her knees beside the still unconscious body of the Mirialan Jedi. She looked up, her piercing eyes focused on Shyre, more confused than angry. "I thought you said she was dead!"

Mentally kicking herself for forgetting about that rather important detail, Shyre approached Saery's body and squatted down. "That's what I thought," she said. "But it seems the old Barsen'thor has a few surprises in her yet."

Ahsoka's nose wrinkled in further confusion, but contained her questions as Yoda drew himself up to the group, once again moving slowly with the help of his walking stick. Shyre didn't really understand what that was all about, but now was not the time to ask about it.

The little green Jedi Master placed his hand on Saery's forehead. "Weak, she is," he reported. "Burdened. Heavy. Get her inside, we must."

Shyre nodded, then looked over at the cliff not too far away. "Is the lift working?" she asked. "Because I don't fancy having to carry her up the hard way."

"It's how we got down," Obi-Wan assured her.

Working together, he and Ahsoka levitated Saery's body with the Force, and carefully carried it between them as the group crossed over to the cliff, and ducked through the moderately hidden entrance to the lift up to the base.

As promised, the lift platform was waiting for them at the bottom. Once everyone was safely on, Shyre activated the controls with great satisfaction, thinking back to her climb the night before.

The lift rumbled its way up, the ancient machinery struggling but still functional - whoever had built the base for Saery's Alliance had done a very good job, considering the difficult circumstances they must have been in, hiding away from that other terrible Empire that Saery had told her about.

At the top, Shyre took a few steps out, then paused and looked back. "Where can we put her?" she asked. Even with the base's systems powered, she didn't think most of the base would be terribly comfortable for an unconscious woman. Well, as much as someone unconscious could feel anything anyway.

"We'll go to her old room," Obi-Wan suggested, and the group nodded in agreement. As Obi-Wan and Ahsoka had been the ones to find the room originally, they knew the way, and led the group down into and through the cantina with Saery's body hovering behind them.

The room still looked half-decent, to Shyre's surprise. The furniture still looked like furniture, for example, and was altogether in much better shape than the stuff in, say, the cantina.

"How did this room survive so well?" she asked as Obi-Wan and Ahsoka carefully lay Saery down on her bed.

"It was sealed up pretty securely," Obi-Wan said. "When that old Alliance abandoned the base, someone did a very good job of making sure nobody would be finding their way in."

"And yet," Shyre said, "that's exactly what you did."

Obi-Wan shrugged. "There isn't much security that can't be beaten by three thousand years and a lightsaber."

"We could both sense that it was important to get inside," Ahsoka offered.

Shyre just hummed noncommittally.

Yoda cleared his throat. "Beginning to stir, our patient is."

While the green Jedi Master stood calmly off to the side, the other three of them all gathered around the Mirialan, who indeed was starting to move a bit as she regained consciousness. Shyre reached out and shook her shoulder lightly.

"Ow," Saery said, and then she opened her eyes. She looked at the faces peering worriedly down at her, then took in her surroundings, taking on a distinctly confused expression when she realized where exactly she was. "What happened?" she asked. "Where is Palpatine?"

"Palpatine is dead," Obi-Wan told her. "Shyre destroyed him, quite definitively."

"What can I say?" Shyre said lightly. "Sometimes it takes a Sith to kill a Sith."

"You're the expert," Saery said with a small smile. Then she grimaced, and one of her hands flew up to clutch at her head.

"What's wrong?" Ahsoka asked anxiously.

Behind her, Yoda grunted. "Carry a dark secret inside her, Master Dusklight does," he said.

"I wouldn't call it a secret," Saery said, her voice thin. Then she looked at Shyre, and said, "Vitiate is still inside me, Shyre."

"What?" Shyre rocked back as if physically struck. "I can't sense him at all! I don't understand. How are you talking to us if he's still possessing you?"

"He's not possessing me," Saery said patiently. "But he is still inside me. I… managed to contain him. And so far it's holding, but it… I don't think it will last forever." She winced again, rubbing her head. "Even now, he is struggling to break free. And when he does…"

"If he breaks free," Shyre said somberly, "you will once again be nothing but his host, and nothing will stand between him and the destruction of the galaxy." She looked down. "Just like you predicted, back on the hill."

"Not 'if,' Shyre," Saery corrected. She was sweating, even though the room was cool, evidence of her ongoing internal struggle to maintain whatever it was she had done to contain the incredible power of Vitiate. "I already know. I cannot maintain this forever. The shield keeping him from affecting me is the most difficult thing I have ever done. At some point, I will lose focus and he will find a crack. Or, even if I am perfect, eventually I will simply run out of energy. He is eternal, Shyre, and I am not. It's only a matter of time."

Saery's words seemed to echo in the small room as the gathered Jedi and lone Sith looked at each other helplessly. The mood was similar to if Saery was asking to be killed, to spare the galaxy from the threat of Vitiate, but that wouldn't even work in this case. If Saery died, Vitiate would just be freed - he would have to find a new host, but he would inevitably find one eventually. Even if they took every precaution, Vitiate would find a way. Like Saery had said, it was only a matter of time.

So what they needed…

Shyre found Saery's eyes, and found in them peace and acceptance.

"So what we need," she said, giving voice to her thoughts, "is _time_. A whole lot of it… or, from a certain perspective, none at all."

She heard a sharp breath behind her, as one of the Jedi figured out what she was implying, though she couldn't tell which of them it was. Slowly, Saery nodded her head.

"I'll need your help," the Jedi said. "I don't know how to work it."

"Like I think I've mentioned," Shyre said, "I don't really understand it either."

"What?" That was Ahsoka, sounding frustrated at how the recent events and discussions were all going over her head. "What are you talking about using?"

"Ahsoka," Obi-Wan murmured, and put a hand on her shoulder. Then he said to Shyre, "You'll need the freighter, I assume."

"Given the mess we made of the would-be Emperor's shuttle," she said, looking back at him, "it's the only functional ship on the planet."

"Wait," Saery said, pushing herself up on her elbows to look at the others. "We can't just strand you guys here."

"We'll be fine," Obi-Wan told her. "With the power on, we should be able to contact Bail to pick us up."

"What if he can't?" Saery asked, her expression worried.

"Eventually, someone will come looking for Palpatine," Shyre said. "If worse comes to worst, just commandeer their ship to escape."

Even turned away, she could feel Saery giving her a look. Then, though, she grunted. "We don't have a lot of time," she said. "Vitiate is… very upset with me."

"Well, come on, then," Shyre said.

Saery took a deep breath, then swung her legs over the side of her bed and tried to stand. She nearly made it, but her legs buckled and she would have toppled if Ahsoka hadn't been quick to run up and support her. Leaning heavily on the teenaged Togruta, Saery looked at the others, a bit shamefaced.

Silently, Obi-Wan moved to her side and placed himself under her other arm. Together, the three of them were able to walk Saery out of the room and into the hall, on their way to the freighter.

That left Shyre in the room with Yoda.

"Selflessness, I sense in you," he said, his little green face looking at her with compassion. "A little good there is, yes?"

"Don't insult me," Shyre said, but her heart wasn't in it. She looked out the door, in the direction of Saery. "I am a Sith who kills Sith, and there is only one left."

Yoda hummed to himself, then left the room, following his fellow Jedi.

Shyre closed her eyes, alone there in the room. She reminded herself of the need to remove Vitiate from the galaxy. She reminded herself that this wasn't her time anyway, and these people were not her people.

She opened her eyes and left the room. Aloraga awaited her.


	18. Epilogue

_**Epilogue** _

_Aloraga_

"Here we are," Shyre said from the pilot's seat as the freighter exited hyperspace. "Aloraga."

Saery sat in the chair beside her, eyes closed. She did not respond. She was focused internally, on that glimmering cocoon that was the only thing between her and a very angry Vitiate. It was still holding, but every time the former Sith Emperor tried to break free, it took a little more from her strength, cost a little more from her soul.

Shyre didn't say anything more. She just piloted the ship down to the vicinity of the cave. Saery appreciated the silence.

The surface still bore the scars of the war that had ended just days before. It also still bore one of the armies. The army of the Republic was gone, probably recalled by Palpatine after the reformation into the Empire. Distantly Saery wondered what was going to happen with that, whether Bail and Padmé would manage to pick up the pieces and restore the Republic. Well, it wasn't her concern.

Across the erstwhile battlefield from where the Republic's forces had once stood, there was still a camp of the Confederacy's droid army. As they flew overhead, however, there was no reaction from below. No movement, no life - not even artificial life. Any droids that happened to be outside were motionless. Deactivated.

Shyre put the ship down on a plateau. Opening her eyes, Saery saw that it was the same rock formation that she herself had landed on, three and a half thousand years ago. She had never thought to wonder what had happened to that ship. Slowly, she patted the pocket in her robes where she still carried the holomessage from Lana. If the Alliance had really come to find her, she supposed they must have retrieved the ship on their way out. That might have been a disaster, if she and Shyre had woken to find themselves without any transportation. They were lucky the war had come to Aloraga.

"I need your help," she reminded Shyre softly.

The Sith nodded, then grabbed at her forearms to pull her upright. Arms around each other's shoulders, the two women made their way down the ramp and off the ship. Shyre paused long enough to wave her hand and trigger the ramp with the Force, closing up the ship behind them, and then they started the short hike to the cave.

It was a quiet trip. Neither of them had much of anything to say.

At the entrance to the cave, Shyre let Saery rest against the rock wall for a moment, then stood and worked to clear the passageway with the Force. It was a harder job than when they'd left the cave originally; Saery would need something easier than a small hole only fit to wiggle through.

It took a few minutes, but Shyre did manage to open up a way through. Then, looking down at the wilting Saery, she sighed, and physically picked her up.

"I can walk," Saery protested weakly. "I'm not that far gone yet." She was, though, and she had to admit to herself that she appreciated the assistance.

"Shut up and let me work," Shyre said, not unkindly, and put her down again on the far side of the rock pile. Then she focused again, undoing all of her hard work, sealing up the cave as best she could. They didn't want anyone else stumbling in, the way Saery had stumbled upon Shyre all those years ago.

Once the entrance to the cave was well and truly sealed, Shyre picked Saery back up and walked down the tunnel, striding forward boldly, even without a light source. She didn't seem to need one as she turned the corner at the bottom, and made her way directly across the cavern to the crack in the far wall.

"You'll have to do this part yourself," she said, letting Saery down to her feet. "Sorry."

Saery had to lean against the wall to stay upright. "That's fine," she said, and reached within herself to summon her last great burst of strength. She pulled herself through the wall, and when she was through, she collapsed to the ground.

She hated being this weak. She was Saery Dusklight, the Warden of the Order! The Commander of the Alliance against Zakuul! She would _not_ go out curled up on the floor.

And so, as Shyre pulled herself through the wall behind her, she pushed herself up to kneeling, and took up a proper position for meditation.

"Good," Shyre commented as she circled around and took a seat, mirroring her pose, facing her. Not that she could really see her in the pitch black of this deepest part of the cave.

"Now," Shyre said, "just sit there quietly for a bit."

"Finally, a challenge," Saery said dryly.

"Quietly!" Shyre insisted, then sighed. "I'm not good at this meditation stuff. This is your wheelhouse, not mine."

"So sorry," Saery said. "I'll try not to distract you any more."

The two of them knelt there in the darkness silently for a few seconds. Then, Shyre broke the moment herself.

"Where do you think we'll end up?" she asked, her voice betraying a nervousness she never would have shown to anyone else. "Think it'll be another three and a half thousand years?"

"Only the Force knows," Saery said philosophically. She tried to find Shyre's shadowy outline in the dark, but even that was impossible. She could feel her, though, a surprisingly comforting presence of the Dark Side. "Whatever happens," she said, "we'll have to be ready to deal with Vitiate. Or… you will. He might possess me almost right away."

"Not to worry," Shyre said with blatantly false confidence. "If this cave works as well as it did last time, we're not coming out until the people of the galaxy have found a way to deal with a small-time threat like Vitiate." She paused. "That might be never."

"Then so be it," Saery said.

Another long stretch of silence. Saery's mind drifted to all the people she had left behind - Lana, and Theron and the rest of the Alliance. Obi-Wan, Yoda, and Ahsoka, the last surviving Jedi and remnant of the order.

"Thank you for being here with me," she said into the darkness.

And after a few moments, Shyre answered, "You're welcome."

* * *

_Some unknown time later_

_Aloraga_

It was like a wet, heavy blanket had been pulled off of her in an instant. Saery drew in a deep, gasping breath, then clutched at her chest. Somehow, deep inside her, despite the cocoon, Vitiate had sensed that something very significant had happened. She willed herself to stay focused, to maintain that shield as long as she could.

In front of her, Shyre shifted, then rose to her feet. "I… think it worked," she commented, sounding surprised at herself. "Whole new time. Whole new galaxy to explore."

"And one very old problem to take care of," Saery managed.

"Well, we won't find any answers in here," Shyre said, and she thrust out with the Force, smashing away the entire wall between their small room and the larger cavern. Maybe that would render the cave unusable in the future. At the moment, Saery found it hard to care.

"Come on," Shyre said. "Let's go see what's new."

**FIN**


End file.
